Serbia: Construction of waste-to-energy plant to start in mid-2020

Beo Cista Energija, a joint venture established by the French utility company Suez, Japanese Itochu and equity fund Marguerite Fund, is planning to start the construction of waste-to-energy facility at Vinca landfill near Belgrade in mid-2020.
The facility will only burn organic waste and it is expected to become fully operational by the end of 2022. In October, Beo Cista Energija received a status of privileged electricity producer, which means that it will receive feed-in tariffs for electricity and heat produced by its waste-to-energy project. Beo Cista Energija is planning to build two power plants at Vinca landfill near the Serbian capital Belgrade – a power plant fueled by landfill gas and a waste-to-energy facility to incinerate municipal waste. The 3.09 MW power plant fueled by landfill gas will get 8.44 eurocents/kWh, while the 30.2 MW waste-to-energy facility will receive 8.57 eurocents/kWh. These are the first landfill gas and energy-from-waste facilities to get feed-in tariffs in Serbia. The World Bank said that it will provide a 259.57 million euros financing and guarantees package for the construction of a new landfill and energy-from-waste facility in Serbia’s capital Belgrade. The financing will be provided to Beo Cista Energija, a joint venture established by the French utility company Suez, Japanese Itochu and equity fund Marguerite Fund, through the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA). IFC’s financing includes an A loan of up to 72.2 million euros, a parallel loan from Oesterreichische Entwicklungsbank (OeEB) of up to 35 million euros, a B loan of up to 35 million euros, and a concessional senior loan of up to 20 million euros from the Canada-IFC Blended Climate Finance Program. MIGA guarantees of 97.3 million euros are being provided for up to 20 years against non-commercial risks, including breach of contract. The guarantees are covering up to 90 % of investor equity in Beo Cista Energija. Also, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said that it will provide a 72 million euros loan for the construction of a new landfill and accompanying waste-to-energy facility in Belgrade. The statement from the Bank said that it is providing a 72 million loan for its own account, arranging a syndicated loan of 35 million euros for the account of project participants and mobilizing a 21 million euros concessional finance funded by Taiwan ICDF.