Serbia

The lowest solar bid in Serbia’s inaugural renewable energy auction was €0.08865 ($0.096)/kWh. The exercise is planned to allocate 50 MW of solar and 400 MW of wind power.

The 9.9 MW DeLasol PV project is located in the municipality of Lapovo, central Serbia.

Serbia is responding to European pressure to accelerate its energy transition to cleaner fuels by allocating €12 billion for wind, PV and hydropower facilities over the next two years. Thus far, there has been little in the way of development in the country, but some regulatory frameworks have been improved.

The rebates will cover up to 50% of the costs for installing and deploying a PV system and are intended at supporting homeowners and businesses take advantage of the recently introduced net metering regime.

The project is being planned to sell power to the Serbian South East European Power Exchange (SEEPEX) or other off-takers under a power purchase agreement.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is helping the Serbian government to define its new procurement plan. The international lender is currently seeking consultants to implement the scheme.

With its feed-in tariff program set to expire at the end of the year, Serbia will be looking to introduce new mechanisms to support renewables in the form of feed-in premiums and auctions. The country’s PV uptake is still in its nascent stage however, with abundant regulatory obstacles still in place

Serbia needs to adopt a set of amendments to the current Energy Law, which envisages support for renewable energy, in order to harmonize its legal framework with the European Union’s acquis, says EU energy watchdog.