Author: Zdravko Stojanovic

The ratification of this law in the Parliament is expected.

The purpose of this law is to stimulate the production of energy from renewable sources and new investments in this field of work in Serbia by introduction of new legal mechanisms.

The new law supports the auction mechanism as the replacement for the feed-in-tariff system used so far.

This law also introduces the concept of public tender for selection of a public partner in the RES field of work. Another addition is definition of how energy producers must adhere to the rules and regulations related to water resources management and environment, as well as how inspectors must perform the corresponding monitoring.

Ministry of Mining and Energy announced the development of a separate code dedicated to renewable energy sources. This field of work is currently regulated by the Law on Energy.

The motive for development of this document would be the creation of an environment that could support better harnessing of renewables in Serbia.

It is expected that the incentive system should be changed, meaning that the renewable energy auctions shall replace the existing feed-in tariffs.

On November 11^th, 2020 in Banjaluka was signed a joint statement on construction of the three hydropower plants in the upper part of the Drina River watercourse (“Buk Bijela” HPP, “Foča” HPP and “Paunci” HPP), which together constitute the “Gornja Drina” hydropower system. The estimated system implementation cost amounts to approximately EUR 520 million. The project shall be implemented by the “HES Gornja Drina” company, which was established by merging of the companies “Hidroelektrana Buk Bijela” (“Buk Bijela hydropower plant”) and “Hidroelektrane Foča i Paunci” (“Foča and Paunci hydropower plants”) in September 2019. Owners of the present company are “Elektroprivreda Srbije” (“Electric Power Company of Serbia”, 51%) and “Elektroprivreda Republike Srpske” (“Electric Power Company of Republic of Srpska”, 49%).