Photo: Martina Janochová from Pixabay
The Government of North Macedonia has selected Turkey’s Fortis Energy Electric and Bulgaria’s Solarpro Holding for the construction of two solar power plants with an installed capacity of 50 MW each. The facilities will be located in the abandoned open pits of mining and power complex REK Oslomej.
Fortis Energy Electric and Bulgaria’s Solarpro Holding have placed the best offer for the public-private partnership (PPP) with state-owned power utility Elektrani na Severna Makedonija (ESM). This is the second tendering launched by ESM.
As a public partner in the PPP project ESM will get about 18% of electricity produced by the PV plants
On the site of the former Oslomej thermal power plant, the companies will build two PV plants, 50 MW each, out of which public partner ESM will get 18.510% of the electricity produced by Fortis Energy Electric, and 18.010% of the power generated by Solarpro Holding, according to a press release by the government.
These will be the second and third solar power plants near the 125 MW Oslomej coal-fired power plant, which will soon be closed down. In November 2019, ESM signed an agreement with Girişim Elektrik AŞ from Turkey for installing 10 MW in Oslomej.
The selection was made after live auction bidding
Solarpro Holding AD Sofia has announced that it has been selected as a partner for establishing a PPP for a BOT (Build, Operate and Transfer) scheme for one of the two PV plants at the location of an old mine in REK Oslomej.
The selection was made after live auction bidding, in a competitive procedure between three international companies, Solarpro said.
Solarpro to hire 50 coal miners
Konstantin Nenov, CEO of Solarpro Holding, said that the company’s final winning bid was 18% of the future revenue in favor of the public partner, or 80% higher than the starting level of 10% required in the auction. As part of the auction terms, in addition to the revenue split, we will offer 50 jobs to former miners in the region,” he added.
Growing demand for green energy, long-term PPA’s from industrial consumers
This is the second investment of Solarpro in North Macedonia, after winning the tendering for construction of a 10 MW solar power plant in the village of Manastirec, Makedonski Brod in 2020.
According to the company’s website, it operates PV plants with a total installed capacity of 700 MW, while 150 MW of projects are in the construction phase and 500 MW in the pipeline. The company is offering a full range of renewable energy services including balancing and trading, and energy storage.
Companies want to hedge against power market volatility
After the Oslomej PV plant competition Solarpro will have 80 MW of installed capacity in North Macedonia.
This will allow us to serve the industry needs for green energy, said Alexander Petreski, CEO of Solarpro Holding in North Macedonia. He added that there is a growing demand for green energy and fixed-price long-term PPA’s from industrial consumers as a hedge against power market volatility.
Solarpro has a balance group of over 450 companies in the country.
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