Hive Energy entered the renewable energy market of Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro at the end of 2021. Less than a year later, In May 2022, Hive Energy opened its first office in the area, located in Belgrade, Serbia. The office is to serve as a regional hub for the previously mentioned markets.
Our CEO, Giles Redpath, visited Serbia in October 2022 alongside our International Commercial Manager, Enes, and Regional Manager, Bojan. Together they met with the Development Agency in Serbia. Another meeting took place in the Government of Serbia with the State secretary for Green Energy, Ministry of Energy and representatives from the Cabinet of the Deputy prime minister. The goal was for the team to discuss Hive’s plans in Serbia with officials and both meetings were successful.
Hive’s Serbia – Clean Energy Pipeline
We are working on the development of 14 projects in Serbia with a total capacity of 2,211 MW. In addition, we are exploring project options in Bosnia and Montenegro.
We have secured land for three projects in Serbia, with a combined power capacity of 450 MW. In coming months, we expect to secure land for an additional project at 40 MW and by mid-2023, our hope is to secure a further 290 MW.
The Serbian Renewables Market
Serbia is currently getting 70% of its electricity from coal. While wind projects were started early, solar projects were not developed on large-scale until the change in legislature in 2021 – the largest ground mounted solar site in Serbia at present is only 2 MW. Changes in the law opened the market for developing renewable energy projects.
Serbia is a member of the Energy Community, an international organisation whose goal is to create a regulatory framework in line with EU regulations in the field of energy across Southeast Europe. It is also responsible for integrating the electricity and natural gas market with the EU market. In the process of accession of the Republic of Serbia to the EU, within Chapter 15 – Energy, Serbia is working on the transfer of EU legislation, as well as on the implementation of the adopted regulations, thus adapting its energy system.
This primarily relates to the area of competition and state aid, the opening of the electricity and natural gas market, the improvement of the conditions for increasing the share of renewable energy, energy efficiency, crisis management and the establishment of mandatory reserves of oil and oil derivatives, nuclear safety and ionising radiation protection.
New Energy Law – April 2021
With the adoption of the new Energy Law and Law on Renewable Energy in April 2021, the legislative framework for the development of renewable energy sources in Serbia was set. The law introduces a system of premiums for producers of electricity from renewable sources and defines an auction model. The new Energy law defines the construction of solar power plants for commercial purposes (sale of electricity) and a new model of prosumers (producer and consumer).
By the Decree of the Government of the Republic of Serbia from July 2021, the Government allows the lease of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes (including renewable energy sources). The price was set at five times the price that would be applied for the use of land for agricultural purposes. The rulebooks on the Law on Energy are still in works.
Additional changes in the Law of Renewable Energy are expected in the next few months. Expected changes will resolve issues that have emerged since law was introduced – especially focussing on balancing of power and connection to grid issues.
The Ministry of Energy – Clean Energy Goals
The Ministry of Energy announced that the first auctions for government premiums for renewables will be held in 2023. The plan of the Ministry for the premiums is to install 1,000 MW capacity from renewable sources in the next three years and to reach 2,000 MW in next five years. The Ministry of Energy announced that the first auction for renewables will be for 400 MW.
In the run up to the wide-spread adoption of clean energy, EMS (a transportation system operator in Serbia) announced an investment of €900 million in the electricity transportation network until 2030.
To find out more about our Serbian projects, contact Regional Manager, Bojan, using the button below.
