The energy sector is facing tough decisions, one of which addresses the issue of compliance with the Large Combustion Plant Directive. – Starting January 1, 2014, Serbia will have the budgetary fund for energy efficiency.
The priority of Serbia’s development is “green economy”, because it will contribute to the creation of new jobs and the introduction of clean technologies – said prof. Zorana Mihajlović , Ph.D., Minister of Energy, Development and Environmental Protection, while opening the Seventh International Forum on clean energy technologies “Serbia’s Energy 2013: Future and Perspectives” on September 24 in Novi Sad .
Ms. Mihajlović reminded that the conclusions of last year’s Forum pointed to the problem of insuficient energy efficiency, but that there have been positive developments in the past year. She stated that all bylaws had been passed and everything done in terms of legislature that is necessary for anyone to really start investing in renewable energy sources in Serbia.
– Ministry of Energy, Development and Environmental Protection is having continuous discussions with potential investors and thus we are trying to improve the environment for investments – said Ms. Zorana Mihajlović.
– I’m proud of the fact that the five-year-awaited Law on Rational Use of Energy, i.e. on Energy Efficiency was enacted in April. Energy Efficiency Action Plan has been prepared, according to which we will increase the energy efficiency by 9% by 2020. Starting January 1, 2014, Serbia will have the budgetary fund for energy efficiency.
According to her, the energy sector is facing tough decisions, and one of them shall address the issue of compliance with the Large Combustion Plant Directive. Serbia is facing the decision according to which thermal capacities of 1,092 MW shall be taken out of the operation by 2018.
– That is not very good for our country in a situation where Serbia has not built a single infrastructure capacity in the energy sector for the last 33 years – said Ms. Zorana Mihajlović , adding that Serbia will certainly need new capacities, but that it is impossible to build them for two or three years. The Ministry has, according to her, announced tender for the construction of small and medium-sized hydro power plants and will soon announce another one in order to fulfill the plan that 27 percent of energy is obtained from renewable sources.
According to her words, the state must work additionally on improving the environment for new investments, and one of the measures in that course is to reduce the number of permits needed for small power plants from the current 93 to a maximum of 5 to 7. She pointed out that renewable energy sources give Serbia an opportunity to increase its energy security and to employ a certain number of people, while on the other hand, they put the obligation on the state to allocate 600 million euros from the budget by 2020, for the prices for privileged producers.
– We build infrastructure through joint investments of “Elektrovojvodina”, municipalities and cities which we supply, whereby starting from large TS in Inđija, Alibunar, Vršac, Sremska Mitrovica and the one to be built in Pećinci – said Mr. Srđan Kružević, the Director of the company “Elektrovojvodina” , pointing out to the energy facilities in Vršac and Alibunar that are already able to accept electricity produced from renewable energy sources.
Source; EPS/Kwh
