Preparatory works for the construction of Oslomej solar power plant are already ongoing and most of the equipment needed for the construction of the plant arrived to the site, said general Director of North Macedonian state-owned power utility ESM Vasko Kovacevski when he visited the construction site of the future SPP, the first such facility in the company’s portfolio.
According to tender documentation, the plant should be completed within 10 months.
Last year, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said that it has decided to provide a loan worth 5.9 million euros to ESM for the purpose of the construction of 10 MW Oslomej solar power plant. The facility would be built on the exhausted coal mine near thermal power plant Oslomej. The project is part of the strategy of ESM to diversify its production mix away from coal and increase the production share from renewable energy sources, which will provide clean energy in a country and a region with serious capacity shortages and high levels of carbon intensity. Estimated annual electricity generation of the future solar park is around 15 GWh. The project’s value is around 7 million euros. Electricity produced by the plant would be sold on the liberalized market, without depending on any state support schemes. This would be ESM’s first investment into solar energy, as part of the company’s strategy of decarbonization and increasing its renewables portfolio. In November 2019, ESM and Turkish company Girisim Elektrik have signed an agreement on the construction of 10 MW solar power plant Oslomej.
In early 2020, the Government launched another tender for granting a concession for the construction of 100 MW solar power plant in Oslomej. The project envisages the construction of 2 power plants with 50 MW output each in public-private partnership with state-owned power utility ESM, worth some 80 million euros. The agreement will have a duration of 35 years, during which the private investor will pay ESM an annual fee to ESM equal to 10 % of the revenues from the sale of electricity produced by the plant, at market prices. All funds for the construction should be provided by the private partner, while ESM will participate with the land on which the solar parks will be built. After the 35-year term, the ownership of the solar parks will be transferred to ESM.
