North Macedonia’s government has signed contracts with 23 investors for the construction of solar power plants of 21 MW in total on private land in 16 municipalities. Investors will also get feed-in premiums.

The tendering procedure for photovoltaic installations on private land, backed by feed-in premiums, was published last year.

The first round of tendering ended in February when contracts for the installation of an overall 35 MW in solar power capacity were signed, but on the state land.

The government has offered locations for the installation of 27 MW PV plants

Economy minister Kreshnik Bekteshi said 44 bids were submitted after the public call for private land. The evaluation led to contracts for 21 MW out of the 27 MW offered. In the end the contracts were signed with 23 investors for PV installations on 29 locations in 16 municipalities, the government said on its website.

The tender was divided into four lots:

• 0 – 200 kW, 7 contracts for 800 kW
• 201 – 500 kW, 6 contracts for 2.4 MW
• 501 – 1,000 kW, 12 contracts for 10.2 MW
• 1,001 – 3,000 kW, 4 contracts for 8.16 MW.

Investors have three years to complete the construction of the power plant.

After the commissioning, contracts for the premiums will be signed for a period of 15 years, Bekteši said.

He said the government would pay a total of around EUR 420,000 annually for premiums for PV installations on state and private land, depending on the production of electricity. For the next seven years the money is secured from the EUR 3 million in one-time fees paid by the investors for acquiring state locations, the minister said.

The government is close to fulfilling a plan to build 200 MW PV plants

Bekteshi noted the state-owned power company ESM signed a contract last year for the construction of a 10 MW solar power plant, that a tender for the construction of a 100 MW solar power plant was announced last year and that project for the construction of a 20 MW solar power plant was being prepared.

With 56 MW from the two tenders for state and private land, North Macedonia would reach its 200 MW target, he said.