Investors in renewable energy sources (RES) in charge in Serbia, with new legal solutions, are imposing the obligation to have storage capacity so that their electricity production is aligned with consumption needs, but, according to the profession, the construction of reversible hydroelectric power plants would be more efficient instead.
Namely, under the amendments to the Law on the Use of RES, Elektromreža Srbije can, as a condition for connection to the power grid, order RES investors to provide so-called electricity storage batteries, to ensure the stability of the system.
When that law was voted in the Serbian Parliament in April, the competent authorities justified its adoption by saying that in this way the security of the country’s electric power system is enabled.
It is claimed that the adopted amendments to the Law on the Use of Renewable Energy Sources solve the issue of a large number of requests for the connection of new solar and wind power plants, whose required capacity for connection has increased from 4.8 GW to 20 GW in the last two years, which is two and a half times more from the total capacity of all power plants in Serbia.
Such capacity exceeds the possibilities for balancing the power system, which caused the concern of the system operator, Elektromreža Srbije, regarding the operation of the power system, so the changes in the law, as interpreted by the authorities, solved the problem by allowing the system operator to postpone the connection of power plants to the system if it is shown, in the transparent process of developing the transmission system development plan, that there is not enough reserve for balancing, but at the same time investors are left with the opportunity to avoid delaying the connection if they or through another market participant provide additional capacity for balancing.
