Serbia exclusive: Securum OneGiga project claims are not true says Energy Minister Mihajlovic

Published on 14. October 2013., News Serbia Energy

In most of the territory of Serbia, the number of sunshine hours is significantly larger than in many European countries and it goes between 1,500 and 2,200 hours per year. And yes Serbia is seriously counting on that potential in the future stated Minister Zorana Mihajlovic. As for Securum OneGiga project claims against the government Minister provides some additional clarifications.

Minister Mihajlovic added that it is natural that we count on that potential, and I will remind you that the feed-in tariff that was given for solar power plants was significantly higher than for all other capacities which use the renewable energy sources. On the other hand, we have to consider the financial capacity of our country and its citizens, which is why the solar power capacity at this moment is limited to 5 MW. If the economic growth and the financial situation allow, we will definitely consider capacity increase. For the manufacturers who do not get the preferential status and have the excess of energy, there will be the possibility of selling the excess energy to “EPS snabdevanje” (EPS supply), at the price at which EPS buys or produces electricity.

On the other hand the situation with “Securum Equity Partners Ltd”an offshore company which has recently terminated the Agreement with Serbian Government concerning the construction of a solar park, worth 1.75 billion € and the company announced that they will claim 160 million € compensation. What was the problem Minister Mihajlovic explains in details:

The country fulfilled its obligations towards the company, since the area the country offered to the company for the construction of the park was even ten times larger than 3,000 ha the company demanded. The problem occurred when the Italian partners, after visiting some parcels in six Serbian municipalities, from the offered 30,000 ha chose the area smaller than 200 ha that was the most suitable to them. We offered that the 100 MW solar panels should be constructed there, which would also be the significant power capacity for Serbia.

I remind you that the decision to sign the Agreement with „One Giga Solar Park incubator d.o.o.” and „Securum Equity Partners International Ltd” was made by the Government and upon the suggestion of Ministry of Finance and Economy. As a ministry which, together with EPS and EMS, contributed to the preparation of the Agreement, we had some remarks to the document from the beginning, but since the Ministry of Finance and Economy insisted and since they are the first signatories, we accepted that the Investor should be given a chance, since the deal was that the investment would be realized in one of the underdeveloped municipalities in Serbia.

A lawsuit was being mentioned in the media, but we do not have any official information on whether it was actually filed. Anyway, the Ministry is very much open to help the Investors to invest in Serbia.

Source; Serbia Energy