Serbia's Minister of Energy, Development and Environmental Protection Zorana Mihajlovic yesterday announced that energy permits for renewable energy sources in Serbia will from now on be granted through public tenders.

In an interview to Beta news agency, Mihajlovic said that the Ministry will compose a rulebook prescribing that the allocation of energy permits will have to be conducted through public tenders, by location.

She stressed that the rulebook will set the time limit within which the investor will have to finish the project, or at least construct the facility to a certain level of completion.

This way we shall make sure that we do not have the same persons extending the permit every two years, or investors who after eight years still have not finished the power plants they began constructing, she observed.

If the investor fails to complete the power plant after two years, or at least bring the works to a certain level, the permit will be revoked, the Minister observed.

Our plan is to have the Ministry prepare all the necessary permits required by prospective investors for project realisation, she explained, noting that at the moment, 27 permits are needed for the construction of a small power plant.

Renewable energy sources are underexploited in Serbia because we waited a long time for the adoption of laws and by-laws, and those who were using these energy sources, did so mostly for their personal needs.

Geothermal energy which Serbia abounds with was mostly used for greenhouses, but we can get heating from this source of energy, she explained.

The Ministry’s plan is to have power plants, currently working on natural gas, coal or heavy fuel oil, start using biomass. Thus, they would use a clean energy source and produce both heating and electricity as privileged producers, Mihajlovic underlined. Source: Serbian Government