New Laws and New Energy Investment Plan – Investments of Around EUR 350 Million in Distribution System in Next Three Years

Serbian Minister of Mining and Energy Zorana Mihajlovic estimated that the year 2021 would be important for the energy sector due to, as she said, the adoption of new laws, the reorganization of public enterprises and a new plan of investments in the energy sector.

Mihajlovic said that a new law on renewable energy sources would be adopted in 2021, which, she says, will provide a new angle on how to use such energy sources.

– Instead of favored prices, there will be auctions and there will be a greater transparency and competitiveness between the producers and a greater utilization of RES – Mihajlovic said on TV Kurir, the ministry announces.

She pointed out that was a need to amend the Law on Energy Efficiency, because, according to her, Serbia is now wasting the amount of energy equivalent to what a power plant produces in year, due to energy inefficient facilities.

– Through the new Energy Efficiency Administration, we will enable companies and households to get monetary help and to make their apartments, buildings and industrial facilities energy efficient over a certain period of time – the minister said.

She pointed out that it was necessary not just to have enough electrical energy, but for the quality of it to be high as well. The minister estimated that around EUR 350 million would be invested in the distribution system alone in the next three years.

– It’s a great shame that there have not been enough investments in EPS in the past years. A new plan of investments in EPS is being made and an investment boom is needed for EPS to be able to keep up with other power companies in Europe in the next six to seven years – Mihajlovic said.

In the gas sector, she said, the focus should be on connecting with the region.

She announced that the works on the gas interconnection Nis-Dimitrovgrad should start not long after and announced that interconnections to Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and the building of a gas pipeline to Pristina should be considered as well.

Mihajlovic said that the total investments in those interconnections amounted to around EUR 350 million and that they entailed over 200 kilometers of gas pipelines connecting Serbia with Europe.

When it comes to high-voltage electrical energy, she said that Elektromreza Srbije (EMS) was building the Trans-Balkan Corridor, which, she says, will connect Serbia with all the countries in the area.

– For Serbia, this also means additional revenues, but also the fact that we can be a mandatory route for the transfer of energy and energy sources, as is already the case when it comes to the traffic – Mihajlovic said.

According to her, in the decades ahead, the production of electrical energy in thermal power plants will gradually reduce, which doesn’t mean that they will shut down in five or ten years, but, as she says, that the share of the production from medium and large hydro power plants will gradually increase.

– This will bring new jobs and new investments, and on the other hand, the development will be “green”, not burdened by harmful emissions. We shouldn’t forget that, in 2050, unless we do so, we will be paying EUR 1 billion for producing electrical energy in thermal power plants – she said.

Regarding the reformation of public enterprises, Mihajlovic said the EPS had already accepted a reorganization plan and started implementing it. The plan envisages EPS and EPS Distribucija functioning as separate companies.

Ministarstvo rudarstva i energetike Republike Srbije

EMS ad Beograd

Ministry of Mining

Energy Efficiency Administration

Elektromreža Srbije

EMS

EPS

Zorana Mihajlović

new law on renewable energy sources

Law on Energy Efficiency

Trans Balkan Corridor

production of electrical energy