Almost 40 per cent of the electricity in Serbia in 2021 was generated from renewable energy sources, according to data from the Energy Agency.
Of this, most of the electricity came from hydropower plants (32.5 per cent), followed by wind power plants (2.8 per cent), while the remaining share was made up of small hydropower plants (MHE), solar power plants and biomass (2.5 per cent of energy ).
Serbia’s Energy Minister Zorana Mihajlović said in May that ‘new capacities for electricity production from renewable energy sources are a pillar of energy security and stability and that without investment, there is no development of either energy or the economy as a whole’. She added that the only way for Serbia to be energy secure and independent “is to increase the capacity to produce electricity” from renewable sources.
In terms of the extent of use of solar panels in Serbia, energy and economic analyst Velimir Gavrilović, says that Serbia has a modest coverage of solar panels in relation to developed countries, but also in relation to some countries in the region that had previously started to grant incentives to invest in renewable energy through solar panels.
“For example, in 2021, solar power plants in Serbia produced only 13.5-gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity, a negligible figure in total electricity production, only 0.04 per cent. On the other hand, there is great interest on the part of investors to invest in solar power plants for production and delivery of electricity to third parties, but also for consumers to invest in their own plants, which would reduce the high costs of drawing electricity from the grid. Thus, consumers become producers at the same time, according to the so-called prosumer model (simultaneous producer and consumer of energy). Of course, everyone is stimulated by the incredibly high electricity prices on the market, so it can be expected that the number of solar power plants will grow rapidly,” he said.
The international environment and renewable energy expert f, Dušan Vasiljević, thinks that there aren’t enough solar panels in Serbia and that solar panels represent only one source of renewable energy, which is currently the most convenient type of energy because it does not require much preparation and can be installed fairly quickly.
“We currently have around generated 50 MWh solar power in Serbia, but new solar power plants are constantly being built. Home use of solar panels has suddenly become attractive after the Serbian government announced and adopted the Renewable Energy Law and the Prosumers Decree. However, it is still far from the real potential,” said Vasiljević.
(Biznis.rs, 25.09.2022)
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