Renewable energy company CWP Global will start building a 50 MW solar power plant near the southwestern Serbian town of Sjenica at the beginning of 2023, in a EUR 40 million investment. The plant, called Kima Solar, will be the first large photovoltaic facility in Serbia, marking the beginning of the country’s solar boom.
The recent adoption of Serbia’s law on renewable energy sources has created conditions for an accelerated development of green energy projects, particularly photovoltaic power plants, given that the total installed solar capacity in the entire country is about 20 MW, while the potential is far greater.
The announcement of the project on the Pešter plateau confirms investors’ recent message that they have big plans for developing solar power plants in Serbia. In April this year, at the First Big Conference on Solar Energy in Serbia, organized by the Balkan Green Energy News portal, Maja Turković, Vice President of CWP Global for Serbia, said the country could get 1 GW of solar power plants by 2030.
The largest solar power plant in Serbia currently has a capacity of 2 MW, and the total installed capacity in the country is 20 MW.
Nikola Stamenov, director of Kima Solar, a project company of CWP Global, has told Balkan Green Energy News that the project milestone was the Sjenica municipal assembly’s decision to approve the company’s initiative to change the relevant planning document and adopt a motion to start building the solar park.
“We are now entering the procedure of obtaining all the necessary permits and approvals to start construction. The launch of works is planned for the beginning of 2023, and the power plant should be online by the beginning of 2024. The 50 MW solar power plant on the Pešter plateau will be by far the biggest solar power plant in Serbia, given that the largest PV facility at the moment has a capacity of 2 MW. It will increase the country’s existing solar capacity by almost 150 percent,” Stamenov said.
CWP Global will sell electricity on the market
He says that the electricity produced at Kima Solar will be sold on the market, so the company does not expect any subsidies from the state. CWP Global will decide on taking part in the announced renewable energy auctions once their design and timeline are announced.
CWP is currently working on a project to develop the world’s largest power plant
CWP Global is one of the biggest investors in wind farms in Serbia, and has recently started developing solar projects as well. Including its capacities in Romania and Australia, CWP has to date delivered 1,525 MW of renewable energy capacity, with financing totaling EUR 3 billion, in what helped avoid emissions of 18.6 million tons of CO2.
In cooperation with partners, CWP is currently working on a project to develop the world’s largest power plant, called the Asian Renewable Energy Hub – a hybrid plant consisting of wind turbines and solar panels, along with the world’s biggest green hydrogen and green ammonia hub.
Sjenica, Pešter set to become clean energy hub on Europe’s energy map
Representatives of CWP Global and the municipality of Sjenica have recently met at the company’s headquarters in Belgrade to agree on further activities on the installation of the photovoltaic facility.
Maja Turković, Vice President of CWP Global for Serbia, has said that Kima Solar will supply green energy to more than 20,000 households. According to Turković, the power plant is not only significant for Serbia’s energy stability and its intention to support renewable energy projects, but is also of great importance for the development of the local community and the entire Pešter region.
The solar power plant will be located near the village of Kamešnica
“We are excited to be able to jointly position Sjenica and Pešter as a center of clean energy on the energy map of Europe,” she added.
Rejhan R. Kurtović, president of the Sjenica municipal assembly, has said that further steps in the development of the project in the area of the village of Kamešnica were agreed at the meeting, and that a team of managers from CWP Global has done a lot of work so far.
“The company has acquired privately-owned land on the territory of our municipality where the solar power plant will be built. It has also taken steps to obtain permits and secure all necessary conditions to start construction works, which is a prerequisite for the further development of this project and cooperation with the local authorities,” said Kurtović.
