The Serbian Government has adopted a decision declaring public interest in the expropriation of land for the construction of a solar power plant within the area of the existing Kolubara thermal power complex in Veliki Crljeni. This move marks another step in the country’s plan to repurpose former coal infrastructure for renewable energy generation.
The project will be carried out within the framework of existing spatial planning documents for the Kolubara lignite basin. The expropriation will affect properties located in the cadastral areas of Sokolovo, Veliki Crljeni, and Stepojevac, with the state-owned power utility EPS designated as the beneficiary of the land acquisition process.
The solar project is part of a broader redevelopment plan for the Kolubara A site. Urban and architectural designs for the new solar facility were publicly presented in October 2025. The project also includes the closure and environmental rehabilitation of existing ash, slag, and coal disposal areas within the complex.
Plans for building solar facilities on former ash dumps at Kolubara A and Morava thermal power plants were first announced about three years ago. In 2024, EPS launched a tender for the preparation of urban planning documentation for solar power plants at both locations.
According to project documentation, the Kolubara A solar installation will have an installed capacity of approximately 71 MW, while a second facility at the Morava thermal power plant site is planned with a capacity of around 45 MW.
Both initiatives are linked to the gradual shutdown of older coal-fired units. The decommissioning process for Kolubara A and Morava TPPs began in autumn 2024, when EPS initiated a tender for preliminary conservation designs. Kolubara A, near the Veliki Crljeni open-pit coal mines, is the oldest operational thermal power plant in Serbia, commissioned in 1956 with a total capacity of 271 MW across five generating units.
The transformation of these sites into renewable energy projects reflects a broader effort to convert legacy coal infrastructure into clean energy assets, supporting Serbia’s transition toward sustainable power generation.
