Serbia currently has nine wind farms with a total annual capacity of around 400 megawatts. A wind farm is under construction at the site of former surface mines and the waste disposal area of the Kostolac thermal power plant. The deadline for applying for the auction to allocate market premiums for renewable energy sources expired at the end of January.
The “Kostolac” wind farm is a pilot project by Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS), with a capacity of 66 megawatts, and will be located in Drmno, Petka, Ćirikovac, and Klenovnik. To date, eight of the twenty wind turbines have been installed, with an expected annual production of 187 million kilowatt-hours, enough to power around 30,000 households. Work is expected to be completed in the second half of the year, according to wind farm expert Miloš Colić, speaking to RTS.
The project is financed by a loan from the German Development Bank, valued at 80 million euros, with an additional 30 million euros approved for EPS from the Western Balkans Investment Framework. EPS states that the wind farm aligns with Serbia’s strategic goals in renewable energy as defined by the “Energy Development Strategy until 2025, with projections until 2030.”
According to Danijela Isailović, director of the Association of Renewable Energy Sources, this project marks the beginning of the energy transformation of Elektroprivreda Srbije. The first wind farm was built in Pešter, in the municipality of Tutin, in 2011, while the largest wind farm, “Čibuk I,” located in Mramork, near Kovin, has a capacity of 158 megawatts.
The majority of wind farms are located in Banat and Eastern Serbia, as these areas are the most wind-rich, as noted by Miloš Colić. It is estimated that by 2040, Serbia will generate 45% of its electricity from renewable sources and will have 15 times more wind farms and solar power plants than it does now. A report by the Global Energy Monitor organization states that Serbia has nearly eight gigawatts of potential wind farm capacity, which accounts for 65% of the total regional capacity, and nearly three gigawatts of potential solar capacity, representing 27% of the regional total.
Authorities stress that the country is increasingly focused on the development of renewable energy as part of its energy strategy. State support is reflected through various forms of subsidies, incentives, and regulatory reliefs, which play a key role in attracting investments in wind farms.
