Montenegrin Government to invite offers for solar plant project

The government of Montenegro said it would publish a tender for the leasing of land intended for the construction of a solar power plant in the Ulcinj municipality.

A government press release said that the Ministry of the Economy would invite offers for the leasing of more than six million square meters of land for the implementation of a project to build a solar power plant on the Briska Gora site in the south of the country.

The public invitation defines the leasing of a total of 6,621,121 square meters of land for the planning, construction, exploitation, and maintenance of a solar power plant with a total installed capacity of more than 200 MW, the press release said, adding that under existing spatial plans, 2.9 million square meters of that land has been set aside solely for the solar power plant.

The best bidder will also be given the possibility of signing a contract on the guaranteed purchase of electricity under market conditions, the government said.

Offers to lease the land and build the solar power plant can be submitted by investors who have experience in projects to build solar plants with an installed power of at least 100 MW and have reported a gross income of more than EUR 100 million in the past three fiscal years, the press release said.

Construction in two phases

The Montenegrin government believes that the project will have a significant effect in raising the level of use of renewable sources for the production of power and that it will be an important element in the system to supply consumers.

According to the Montenegrin media, the government could have an income of some EUR 330,000 a year from the leasing of the land at Briska Gora at a minimum price of five Euro cents per square meter per year.

The media said that the first stage of the construction of the solar power plant has to be finished within a deadline of 18 months from the date of the signing of the contract. The power plant has to have an installed capacity of 50 MW by that deadline and an installed capacity of at least 200 MW by the end of the second stage, which has to be completed within 24 months of the completion of the first stage.