Montenegro

With pressure mounting on the world’s governments to turn their back on the fossil fuel, China and peers in South East Asia, Europe and South Asia could help deliver a coal-free future at the COP26 climate summit planned in Glasgow in November.

Montenegro’s Investment and Development Fund (IRF) is granting low-interest loans for commercial PV projects and the government agency Eco Fund is awarding non-refundable rebates of up to €25,000 per project, depending on the size.

Although very limited in scale, the program is Montenegro’s first attempt to support rooftop PV.

Montenegro’s power utility, EPCG, is planning to build the facility on a salt lake in the western part of the country. Some undisclosed Danish companies are interested in developing the project.

The EBRD has released a brief urging Western Balkan countries to both replace their aging lignite coal generation capacity with renewables, and to rethink their 18 GW plans for new coal capacity. While the region offers favorable conditions for various types of renewable generation, it has been slow on the uptake to date.

Montenegro’s Ministry of Economy said the consortium provided the best conditions for the number of newly created jobs and lease payment, and in terms of technical and financial ability to build the plant.

The interested developers are a consortium formed by Fortum and local utility EPCG; Malta-based IREDL; and a domestic group named Montesolar.

As a first step towards executing a 200 MW solar tender, the Montenegrin government has planned a public invitation to lease land owned by the state at the Briska Gora – Ulcinj Municipality, where the array is planned.

Noting that it is close to reaching its 33% renewable energy target, Montenegro’s Ministry of Economy has said it will not issue any more licenses for renewable energy projects. It has, however, launched the third phase of deployment of solar PV systems for un-electrified households in secluded mountainous areas.