Funds allocated for use of renewables to heat water in public buildings in Vojvodina

A total of 11 towns and municipalities in the Serbian northern province of Vojvodina were awarded funding to co-finance projects introducing the use of biomass and solar power for heating water in public buildings.

The contracts for the co-financing of the projects were awarded under two competitions for those renewable energy sources and were signed by Vojvodina provincial Secretary for Energy, Construction and Transport Nenad Grbić who voiced hope that other public institutions would follow with applications for renewable energy source projects.

Grbić specified that 13 local public institutions had applied for the co-financing funds to install solar panels for the heating of water and added that seven of them had been awarded a total of RSD 14,448,000 (about EUR 120,000) of the total of RSD 16 million (about EUR 134,000) earmarked for the competition to use solar power to heat clean water in public buildings.

He said a total of seven local public institutions had applied with projects to use biomass to produce energy to heat clean water in public buildings, adding that four of those institutions had been awarded RSD 15,601,000 (about EUR 130,000) of the total of RSD 20 million (about EUR 167,000) earmarked for that competition.

Grbić also expressed satisfaction with the interest shown for the competitions for co-financing of renewable energy projects published by the Vojvodina Secretariat for Energy, Construction and Transport and added that he hopes that in future more funds would be allocated for projects introducing the use of renewable energy sources.

He recalled that Serbia has an obligation under European Union directives to reach the level of 27 percent of the total power produced in the country coming from renewable energy sources by the year 2020. According to him, the benefits from the use of renewable power sources include a higher level of energy independence and economic stability and protection of the environment.