EMS: We Are Not Against Cleaner Energy Sources, But Transition Needs to Be Planned and Take Into Account the System’s Capabilities

Neither Elektromreza Srbije nor Elektroprivreda Srbije have anything against the turning of the national energy system toward cleaner sources of energy, EMS announced and said that the essence was that the transition should be carried out in line with a plan, taking into account the national interests and needs, as well as the capabilities of Serbia’s energy system.

This is how EMS reacted to the statement of the state secretary at the Ministry of Mining and Energy of Serbia, Jovanka Atanackovic, who said that the memo sent by EPS, EMS and the Energy Agency to that ministry, in which they point to the negative consequences of the integration of the producers of electricity from renewable sources into the electrical energy system, only indicated the incapability of the managements of those companies and institutions to implement the Law on Renewable Energy Sources, which was adopted in 2021.

– We believe that, with the adoption of the set of regulations which regulate the field of RES, without first defining the national goals and strategy, the optimal process of creating a national energy policy for the next period has been jeopardized, especially considering that the Law on the use of RES is one of the regulations of the “Clean Energy Package” of the European Union, whose transposition deadline is the end of 2022, and Serbia adopted it in the first half of 2021 – says EMS.

They add that it first needed to be determined what the optimal share of RES from solar and wind power is in the total production in the field of electrical energy, through the preparation of systemic studies, whose results would be implemented in strategic documents in the field of energy.

The company says that the adoption of the umbrella document – the new Energy Development Strategy of the Republic of Serbia was supposed to be the logical basis and the starting point for the initiation and adoption of the set of regulations for RES.

EMS notes that they have warned the competent ministry on several occasions that a problem has been detected, which is the result of the concept adopted by the new law, according to which, on one hand, incentives for the production of electrical energy and the taking of balance responsibility for RES producers by the guaranteed supplier are secured for RES producers, whereas, on the other hand, investors have the full freedom of putting the produced electrical energy in the regional and European markets of electrical energy.

– We have all pointed out to the competent ministry the risks and dangers of the taking and especially the expansion of the benefits for RES compared to law regulations in the EU, without previous analyses and adaptation to our needs – the announcement says and adds:

– We have pointed out that, for a while now, in Europe, the proposed solutions for incentive measures for non-controllable RES from sun and wind are no longer current and that there is a clear trend of an unconditional switching of the balance responsibility to the sources of non-controllable RES, in order to avoid jeopardizing the integrity of national electrical power companies.

It is added that the negative effects of such solutions could be seen through the escalation in September 2021, after the disturbances and the enormous increase in the price of electrical energy in EU markets.

EMS says that there are still parts of the Law on the Use of RES which can be further improved in the sense of a clearer defining of national interests, that is, the protection of local consumers.

It is also necessary to amend the Law on Energy and other relevant bylaws in order to set the criteria for implementing the mandatory reserves for producers from intermittent (renewable) energy sources.

They point out that the requests for connection to the transfer network have exceeded 11,000 MW at the moment, of which requests amounting to around 4,800 MW were filed until the adoption of the Law on Amendments to the Law on Energy and remind that the total installed power of Serbia from thermal and hydro capacities amounts to 7,800 MW.

– Inciting the connection of a huge number of new units of non-controllable RES from sun and wind to our transfer system brings considerable risks to the integrity of the entire national electrical energy system, that is, to secure and stable supply of consumers with sufficient quantities of quality electrical energy – the announcement says.

This, it is added, means that all citizens could experience big problems and various consequences, from an electricity price jump to potential serous problems with the supply of electrical energy.

– Pushing to the side the production of the existing controllable sources (thermal and hydro power plants) in our production mix, without new controllable sources (whose construction EMS supports), leads to the reduction of inertia in the system – EMS says.

This, as they add, jeopardizes stable operations of the transfer system, which creates the risk of a partial and/or full collapse of the electrical energy system due to the jeopardized stability and the continuation of the supply of electrical energy in the whole territory of Serbia and the consequent wider disturbances in the electrical energy system of continental Europe.

EMS ad Beograd

Elektroprivreda Srbije ad Beograd

Ministarstvo rudarstva i energetike Republike Srbije

Agencija za energetiku Republike Srbije

Elektromreža Srbije

Elektroprivreda Srbije

Ministry of Mining and Energy

Energy Agency

European Commission

Jovanka Atanacković

clean energy sources

Law on Renewable Energy Sources

RES

green energy

gas thermal power plants

Energy Community

Clean Energy Package

Energy Development Strategy of the Republic of Serbia

Law on Energy