New Government of Montenegro affirms support to EPCG – UGT Renewables partnership

Representatives of United States–based UGT Renewables, South Korean Hyundai Engineering and Elektroprivreda Crne Gore (EPCG) met with the new Prime Minister of Montenegro Milojko Spajić and Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Policy Nik Gjeloshaj.

UGT Renewables (UGTR) signed an agreement last year with state-owned power utility EPCG on the joint development of renewable electricity and energy storage projects in Montenegro.

The Miami-based company has established a strategic partnership for Europe and Central Asia with Hyundai Engineering from South Korea. On the same occasion, they signed an agreement on cooperation on projects in Montenegro.

The plan is to build solar power plants of 250 MW in total with an energy storage system with 50 MW in operating power and a capacity of 100 MWh

The meetings were aimed at raising the level of cooperation in order to start the work on the design, financing, and construction of solar photovoltaic power plants of 250 MW in total with an energy storage system with 50 MW in operating power and a capacity of 100 MWh, EPCG said.

The state-owned company pointed out that it would operate the said facilities and hinted at the possibility of installing additional energy storage systems.

A large part of the project will be implemented in the municipality of Tuzi

A significant part of the project will, according to Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Policy Nik Gjeloshaj, be implemented in the Tuzi municipality, neighboring the capital city of Podgorica. He was its mayor for more than four years until joining the new government.

The next step is to fulfill the project’s technical and financial requirements, Chief Executive Officer of UGT Renewables Adam Cortese said at a meeting on the same day with President of the Parliament of Montenegro Andrija Mandić, according to EPCG’s announcement.

“Since our business philosophy is based on partnering with the most important business entities in every country where we operate, it is clear that EPCG is an entirely natural choice. Supplying green energy in an economically sustainable way is, we are sure, in common interest, and we are pleased that both the American and Montenegrin governments are showing understanding for the development of the partnership between our companies,” Cortese stressed.

Spajić: Domestic companies should acquire expertise

At the meeting with Prime Minister Spajić, the representatives of UGTR and Hyundai Engineering presented their portfolios and informed him about the cooperation with EPCG so far.

“We want to improve the business environment, which will mean that investors are satisfied, but also that, in addition to importing new technologies, domestic companies acquire the necessary expertise. Development and the support to domestic companies is the government’s focus – because without a strong economy, there is no strong state,” said Spajić.

UGT Renewables and Hyundai Engineering also operate in Serbia, where their consortium was chosen as the strategic partner for the construction of solar power plants with an overall peak capacity of 1.2 GW and a 1 GW connection capacity, combined with batteries.