Serbia intends to launch auctions for 1,400 MW in renewables – minister

Serbia intends to launch auctions for the installation of renewable power plants of 1,400 megawatts (MW) in total, which will increase the country’s overall capacity to 2,000 MW.

Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Đedović said the goal is to create a three-year plan for auctions in order to obtain up to 1,000 MW more from renewable energy sources.

She previously announced that a three-year auction plan would be drafted, but the quota wasn’t announced.

At the first auction, the quota will be 400 MW

Now she also said that the first auction for providing incentives to producers of electricity from renewables is expected soon and that the quota will be 400 MW, local media reported.

The quota was determined by the Government of Serbia at the end of 2021, when it said it plans to hold the first auction.

Đedović stated that Serbia currently has more than 550 MW of newly-built renewable capacity on the grid, all in wind farms.

With 400 MW at the first auction and 1,000 MW over the next three years, Serbia may reach 2,000 MW in renewables capacity within five years.

Some of the costs of connecting and installing new renewable energy facilities will be transferred from state-owned utilities to investors

The size is not insignificant for the country’s energy system, which has an installed capacity of 8,500 MW, she said.

According to Đedović, the ministry is currently working on the improvement of the regulatory framework. The aim is to transfer part of the responsibility and costs of building and connecting new wind farms or solar power plants from state utilities Elektromreža Srbije (EMS) and Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) to investors, she added.

Serbia is, in her words, on the path to decarbonizing the energy sector and economy, and it is also necessary to reduce CO2 emissions and modernize the entire energy sector.