EPS Planning to Build Solar Power Plants After 2025 – Construction of RHPP Bistrica Not to Happen That Soon

Until 2025, the main focus of EPS is to revitalize the existing hydro power plants, following which the company will invest in solar power plants – announced the executive director for electrical energy trade, Dragan Vlaisavljevic, at yesterday’s conference RES Serbia 2022. In addition to the wind farm Kostolac, whose commissioning has been announced for two years from now, the construction of another two wind farms of a total of 300 MW is being prepared.

As he pointed out, the circumstances are not favorable for EPS, because its position is different compared to the production companies in the EU, which have no cap on prices.

– EPS has not increased the investment capacity. Until 2025, the main focus is on the revitalization of the existing hydro power plants – Vlaisavljevic revealed.

The construction of the reversible hydro power plant Bistrica, which has been presented as one of the most important investment projects in the energy sector of Serbia, will have to wait at least until 2025 after all.

– The Bistrica project is 40 years old and is being done for the third time. The next phase is to prepare the documentation. The critical moment is how to close the financial construction. I don’t believe that it will happen before 2024, and the realization before 2025. It’s a long story why it wasn’t done earlier – Vlaisavljevic said.

He reminded that the construction of the wind farm Kostolac was in progress and that another two wind farms, each of 150 MW, were being prepared – the first should be put into operation 2.5 years later and the other one in 2026/2027. EPS is also negotiating with large world investors in wind farms about agreements on the purchase of electrical energy.

– What’s missing is the connecting of the region. A true raising of liquidity of an organized market will happen when the entire region enters the connected European market for electrical energy. Investors who plan to invest hundreds of millions of euros in wind farms and the banks which lend credits to them and those who don’t believe in the liquidity of the intraday market know this as well – Vlaisavljevic pointed out.

He also revealed that EPS was working on projects of big solar power plants, because it owned land that could be repurposed, but that those projects were planned for after 2025.

The RES Serbia 2022 conference was organized by the RES Serbia association, with the support of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the organization WindEurope.

The eKapija portal is one of the media sponsors of the conference.

M. D.

EPS OBNOVLJIVI IZVORI

Obnovljivi izvori energije Srbije

Elektrodistribucija Srbije d.o.o. Beograd

EBRD Evropska banka za obnovu i razvoj Beograd

Elektroprivreda Srbije ad Beograd

EPS

RES Serbia

WindEurope

EBRD

Dragan Vlaisavljević

RES Serbia 2022

Bistrica

hydro power plants

wind farm Kostolac

reversible hydro power plant

energy

purchase of electrical energy

liquidity of the intraday market

solar projects