When will Serbia be warmed by Sun - Using solar energy to heat water saves 370 million euros per year

For the first time in our country, electric power produced in three solar power plants will be included in the electricity network. It will be produced by photovoltaic panels on secondary schools in Kula, Varvarin and Belgrade, and that energy is expected to be included in the power supply system by the end of the year, as a result of the project of the Energy Efficiency Agency of the Republic of Serbia.

Already in 2011, Serbia should get the first large solar power plant. The plant with the capacity of 1 MW will be located in Leskovac, while a tender for its construction will be announced by the end of the year.

Milorad Mladenovic, the Assistant Mayor of Leskovac, announced that for eKapija. He also said that 70% of the funds for implementation of the project worth about 4 million euros had already been provided, while the rest should be "sought" from the future strategic partner.

(solar power plant in Leskovac)

- Location for the construction of a photovoltaic power plant in Leskovac's village of Velika Biljanica, on an area of 6 ha, is owned by the city, and a substation and two high-voltage long-distance power lines are in its vicinity. The preliminary project for the power plant has been prepared by the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Novi Sad – said Mladenovic.

Leskovac will implement that project in association with Pancevo-based company Globus Auto, while negotiations are also underway with an investor from abroad. According to Stanko Kovacevic, the owner of Globus Auto, the solar power plant in Leskovac is the first out of five whose construction is in the pipeline.

Namely, Globus Auto and the Technical Faculty in Novi Sad have prepared five justification studies for Kula, Kovacica, Zajecar, Leskovac and Vranje.

In addition to these five cities, municipalities of Kikinda, Bor and Nova Crnja have also announced the construction of solar power plants. If we know that incentives for the production of electricity from solar energy amount to EUR 0.23 per kWh, which is significantly lower than the European average, and that the Ministry of Energy has limited set certain limitations for allotment of incentives to such manufacturers of electric power to a total of 5 MW, the question is how profitable the projects worth few hundred million euros will be for future investors since Kikinda alone plans to have a plant with the capacity of 30 MW built.

Concerning the fact that larger use of solar energy in Serbia may result in significant energy savings and reduction of emission of carbon-dioxide by about 305,000 to 360,000 tons over the period of five years.

Bojan Kovacic, the Deputy Director of the Energy Efficiency Agency, says for eKapija that Serbia has the potential to annually produce 1,200 kWh of energy per square meter of solar panel, which is more than in the countries with a good reputation in regard to the use of solar energy.

Presenting the results of the "Development of capacities for use and promotion of solar energy" project, which has been implemented by the Energy Efficiency Agency in association with the Government of Spain, he says that 3.3 kWh of energy per square meter of solar panel could be produced in Serbia on a daily basis, and that its application would be the most efficient in tourism and health care sector, as well as in households, primarily for water heating. Cities in southern Serbia - Nis, Kursumlija and Vranje, have the largest potential for use of solar energy.

(Solar power plant on the roof of secondary technical school Rade Koncar in Belgrade)

Belgrade-based NET Invest has prepared the project and installed solar power plants in technical schools. Therefore, Kovacic says that Serbia has firms and workers that are qualified to prepare projects and install units for use of energy from renewable sources.

As Kovacic explains, the energy produced in solar power plants in technical schools Rade Koncar, Mihajlo Pupin and Varvarin will be included in the electricity network, while thermal-solar systems for heating sanitary water have been installed on Gornja Toponica special hospital.

Solar panels for heating sanitary water save 370 million euros per year

(Devic monastery)

Growing number of facilities in Serbia are using solar systems for water heating. In addition to private investors, solar energy is also used by General hospital in Pirot, Djordje Jovanovic hospital in Zrenjanin, General hospital in Jagodina, Slankamen special hospital, sports centers Tasmajdan and Obrenovac, sports hall in Indjija, Olimp swimming pool, monasteries Zica and Devic, as well as VIG Plaza business building in New Belgrade.

The Provincial Secretariat for Energy and Mineral Raw Materials is going to provide 17,5 million dinars for installation of solar collectors for the purpose of water heating in nine secondary school dormitories and ten private companies in Vojvodina.

Another proof that the things are going in the right direction is the fact that five new kindergartens in Belgrade will be energy-efficient.

In the climate conditions in Belgrade, 0.5 square meters of solar collectors per member of household can heat over 30% of the necessary consumable sanitary hot water per year.

Since Serbia has 2.65m housing units, if 4 square meters of solar collectors were installed on each of them, about 7,420 GWh of electric energy worth about 370 million euros would be saved every year.

The unofficial data provided by the Energy Efficiency Agency show that about 15,000 square meters of solar collectors are installed in Serbia every year, which is not enough if we have in mind the overall potential.

Active and passive solar energy systems in building design

Speaking of the use of solar systems in the building design, Bojan Kovacic, the Deputy Director of the Energy Efficiency Agency, points out that there are active systems, in which the priority is given to installation equipment, and passive systems, in which a house collects and keeps the largest portion of solar energy.

- The passive use of solar energy is the basic and the cheapest method of use of energy from the environment. The essence of architectural planning that uses passive solar elements lies in using physical laws - cooling, heating, air circulation and heating insulation, to enable a house to behave as a heat absorber and regulator. The research shows that the passive systems for solar heating would be able to satisfy 30 to 60 percent of the needs for heating energy - said Kovacic.

Solar lighting

The Energy Administration of the Secretariat for public utility and housing affairs of the city of Belgrade has announced an open competition for procurement of equipment and works and construction of a solar public lighting system on Ada Huja. The walk will be lit with 40 lamps that will use the energy collected by solar panels. This is the first time that solar energy is used in a public lighting system in Serbia, while advantages are numerous. This environment-friendly solution reduces the use of fossil fuels, it is easy to install, there is no environment pollution, electricity bills, costs of maintenance are minimum, while the life is very long. The lighting management system is automatic.

Power production giant in Mojave desert

The biggest solar power plant is situated in Mojave desert in California and it has the capacity of 354 MW, which is about 10% of the total capacity of Nikola Tesla steam power plant. Large photovoltaic power plants today reach the capacity of over 30 MW and their capacity is expected to exceed 100 MW in the near future. Out of the world's ten largest solar power plants, 8 are located in Spain.

Advantages and limitations of use of solar energy

General advantages:

- Solar energy is available and free

- The cleanest form of energy (no burning products - CO2, SOx, NOx)

- A sustainable source of energy

Flaws and limitations:

- Solar radiation is variable

- The lower outdoor temperature, the smaller efficiency of thermal receivers of solar energy

- Installations may freeze during winter

- Large building lot is required for large solar systems

M.K.

Agencija za energetsku efikasnost Republike Srbije

Grad Leskovac

Fakultet tehničkih nauka Univerziteta u Novom Sadu

Opština Kula

Opština Kovačica

Globus Auto d.o.o. Pančevo

Grad Zaječar

Grad Vranje

Grad Kikinda

Grad Bor

Opština Nova Crnja

Vlada Kraljevine Španije - Gobierno de Espana

Netinvest d.o.o. Beograd

Ambasada Kraljevine Španije Beograd

Elektrotehnička škola Rade Končar

Mihajlo Pupin Kula

Opšta Bolnica Đorđe Joanović Zrenjanin

Opšta bolnica Jagodina

Ogranak EPS Termoelektrane Nikola Tesla- TENT d.o.o. Obrenovac

Grad Beograd-Sekretarijat za komunalne i stambene poslove Beograd

Pokrajinski sekretarijat za energetiku, građevinarstvo i saobraćaj Novi Sad

JP SKC Obrenovac, Obrenovac

VIG Plaza Novi Beograd