The State Secretary of the Ministry of Mining and Energy, Veljko Kovačević, said today that with the completion of the construction of the Serbia-Bulgaria gas interconnection, Serbia has been given the opportunity to connect with various sources of gas supply, which can improve energy security and strengthen the transit position of our country.
“Until recently, Serbia had only one source and two directions of natural gas supply. With the completion of the construction and commissioning of the Serbia-Bulgaria interconnection in December last year, we got the opportunity to connect to the Southern Gas Corridor via the Bulgaria-Greece interconnection. Our supply routes and we are connecting with gas sources from the Caspian region and the Middle East, as well as with the LNG terminal in the Greek port of Alexandroupolis,” Kovacevic said while participating in the Tenth Ministerial Meeting of the Advisory Council of the Southern Gas Corridor in Baku, Azerbaijan.
He pointed out that the construction of gas interconnections and better connections with neighbors opens space for Serbia to improve not only its energy security, but also to be a transit country through which Azerbaijani gas will reach other countries in the region and the EU.
Kovačević pointed out that Serbia and Azerbaijan are traditionally friendly countries and strategic partners in many areas, as well as that the country is an important partner of Serbia on the path to diversification of gas supply sources.
“At the end of the construction of the Serbia-Bulgaria interconnector, in Baku we agreed on deliveries of up to 400 million cubic meters of gas per year from Azerbaijan until 2026, which can be three times larger after that. We also leased 300 million cubic meters of gas per year in LNG terminal in Greece,” he said.
He emphasized the support of the European Union in the construction of a gas interconnection with Bulgaria and expressed his belief that the EU will also financially support the construction of a gas interconnection with North Macedonia and Romania.
During his participation in the Second Ministerial Meeting of the Advisory Council for Green Energy, Kovačević said that strengthening cooperation in the field of green energy opens up new opportunities for cooperation in the process of green transition, through investments in RES and development of energy infrastructure.
“Serbia shares the EU’s vision of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. In order to achieve that goal during this year, we will start the implementation of two important projects, namely the construction of 1 GW of self-balanced solar power plants in the east of our country, as well as preparatory works within the construction project of RHPP Bistrica “Also, during this year we will start technical discussions with our colleagues from Romania with the aim of realizing the construction project of RHPP Đerdap 3,” he said.
As Kovačević pointed out, in addition to investments in new production capacities and investments in increasing energy efficiency, the priority is the construction and strengthening of the transmission network towards neighbors, through projects such as the Trans-Balkan Corridor, which is important for greater security of supply, integration of new RES capacities and development electricity markets in the region.
