Montenegro to launch renewables auctions in early 2025 – ministry

At the beginning of next year, Montenegro plans to launch its first auctions for market premiums for the construction of renewable energy power plants, according to Biljana Ivanović, State Secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Mining.

The Ministry of Energy and Mining of Montenegro is currently preparing four bills for the electricity sector to fully harmonize the regulatory framework with the European Union. Three of the laws will include provisions transposing the Third and Fourth EU Energy Package into Montenegrin legislation.

At the EPCG NET conference, Ivanović noted that one of the laws is the Law on the Use of Electricity from Renewable Sources, whose drafting is in the final stage and which can be expected in the Montenegrin parliament soon. She said that it is very important to have a law that regulates the implementation of renewable electricity development policy, according to a report by state power utility Elektroprivreda Crne Gore (EPCG), the organizer of the conference.

The new regulation introduces contracts with strategic investors

The plan, she said, is to announce the first auctions for market premiums at the beginning of next year with the support of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Of note, the bank is helping the ministry to prepare the law.

“These auctions will be conducted either within a three-year plan, which we are obliged to adopt under the Law on Renewable Sources, or independently of the plan, if we fail to adopt it by the end of the year,” Ivanović said.

The law, in her words, leaves room for partnerships with strategic investors if the national targets aren’t reached through auctions or if there is a need for additional quantities of balancing energy.

The law also allows producers to enter into PPAs

The regulation also envisages that producers directly enter into arrangements with end consumers or sign power purchase agreements (PPAs), with support from the ministry.

“The national interest is to gradually exit incentive schemes and to create conditions to integrate producers of renewable electricity into the market. Another objective is to meet national targets,” Ivanović stressed.

Given that the green transition is a long-term and very costly endeavor, it is now being discussed how to address the social problem, in addition to the energy problem, according to her.