Serbia’s solar capacity at 166 MW and rising

The total capacity of solar power plants in Serbia has reached 166 MW, including installations by prosumers. In addition to citizens and businesses, state-owned power utility Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) should soon make its own contribution, by officially opening its 9.75 MW Petka solar power plant.

The capacity of solar power plants in Serbia is increasing at such a rate that the data is being updated on a weekly basis. The bill with amendments to the Law on Energy contains data on renewable energy sources as of August.

At that time, the number of prosumers (formally buyers-producers) was 3,780, of which 2,755 were households, three were residential communities, and 1,022 were entities not classified in either group, mostly businesses.

Households had solar panels with a total capacity of an overall 22.4 MW, residential communities had 69.5 kW on the grid, and all other prosumers combined had 51.7 MW, making a total of 74.1 MW. There were also 171 photovoltaic plants without prosumer status, mostly smaller ground-mounted facilities, with a combined capacity of 65 MW. The total amounted to 139.1 MW.

The bill also states there were eight facilities with a total capacity of 2.7 MW, but the Ministry of Mining and Energy said they are connected power plants with the status of renewable energy producers. They are existing capacities, not new, and their 2.7 MW is not taken into account when calculating the overall capacity of solar power plants in Serbia, the statement adds.

Just a few days ago, Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Đedović Handanović visited the construction site of solar power plant Petka in Kostolac.

“Two years ago we had about 20 MW of solar power plants, and now we have 163 MW. The number of buyers-producers has grown from about 400 to almost 4,000, and the capacity has increased by as much as 13 times – from 6 MW to over 78 MW,” she said.

The minister pointed out there are no big or small projects and that every megawatt is needed because it provides additional energy security. The Petka solar power plant is EPS’s first on an abandoned mining dump, and there will be more, according to Đedović Handanović.

According to an explanation Balkan Green Energy News has obtained from the ministry, total solar capacity in August was 139.1 MW, and it rose to 163 MW by November. However, the figure is changing on a daily basis. It has already reached 166 MW, according to the ministry.

It means the total capacity has increased by almost 24 MW in three months and by 3 MW in just a few days.

Speaking about the Petka solar power project, Dušan Živković, general manager of EPS, said the installation of solar panels, covering an area of ​​11.6 hectares, is underway.

Petka’s planned annual output is 15.6 GWh. Its completion is scheduled for mid-February, and according to the current pace of the works, the deadlines will be met, according to Živković.