As say investors in renewable energy sources, a new Law on Energy has made significant progress in terms of the legal framework for investment in RES.
As Ana Brnabic, director of “Continental Wind Serbia” and representative of Serbian Wind Energy Association (SEWEA) stated three significant improvements have been made by the new Law.
– Most importantly, it was adopted application of the international financial institutions that the Law recognizes only one contract on the electricity purchase which is signed after obtaining the temporary status of privileged electricity producer and it has a delayed effect until the requirements for obtaining a full status be met. We believe that this will greatly facilitate the financing of major projects in Serbia. Second, the Ministry of Energy and “Elektromreza Srbije” have gone out to meet the investors who sought to build their own terminal infrastructure, so that the law defined that all licenses for the connection would be in the name of EMS, but that EMS, at the request of the investor, will let alone that they build in order to have complete control over the time, cost and quality of construction. A big dose of safety for all investors in renewable energy was added by this provision and EMS showed to have a lot of understanding for cooperation with investors in this area. Finally, the deadline for the construction of wind farms from the previous two to three years has been extended by the Law, which is more than enough for all serious investors to complete the construction of their projects – said Brnabic.
Brnabic points out that the new law is good news for investors and it provides space for the adoption of model contracts to purchase electricity on the basis of which the banks will be able to finance the construction of wind farms.
– The great thing would be if the Ministry of Energy would completed the work on the relevant laws and negotiations on the model of the Treaty on the electricity purchase by the end of the first quarter of 2015th, which would allow that the construction of the first wind farms commence in the third quarter.
She notes that investors in wind farms are satisfied, because the turbulent year 2014th ends with two good laws – the Law on Planning and Construction and Energy Law, so with great expectations enter the year 2015th.
