NIS, MET Renewables to start building 102 MW Plandište wind farm during 2019

MET Renewables AG and oil company NIS, majority owned by Russia’s Gazprom, have launched joint work on a project to build the Plandište wind farm in Serbia. The two companies established a joint venture after MET acquired from a third party a 50% stake in the Serbian wind farm project, according to a press release from Serbia-based NIS.

This will be the first wind project for both NIS and MET, and also the first renewable energy investment of Swiss MET Group outside the EU. The 102 MW wind farm will consist of 34 wind turbines and will be built next to the Serbian municipality of Plandište. NIS said earlier that the project is worth around EUR 160 million.

MET Renewables AG (owned 100% by Switzerland-based MET Group) was officially registered as a shareholder on March 19, 2019. The Plandište wind farm will be operated in a joint structure, with each firm holding a 50% stake in a company called NIS–MET Energowind.

The 102 MW wind farm, located in the Serbian municipality of Plandište, in the province of Vojvodina, will supply power equivalent to the consumption of around 85,000 households. The construction of the Plandište wind farm will start in 2019. The wind farm is expected to be fully operational in 2021.

The construction of the Plandište wind farm strengthens MET Group’s renewable energy strategy. The company aims to establish a renewable energy production portfolio of several hundreds of megawatts in Central and Eastern Europe, including both solar and wind projects.

Status of privileged producer from renewable energy sources secured in 2015

Until MET Renewables acquired 50% of NIS Energowind, the Plandište wind farm developer was 50% owned by  NIS and 50% by a group of private investors, the most prominent of whom was Goran Novaković, a former energy minister.

NIS Energowind first received the status of a privileged producer of electricity from renewable energy sources in November 2005, which was then extended in December 2016. The latest extension was approved in January 2018, with privileged producer status to last until May 2020.