The new biomass heating plant in Mali Zvornik will significantly lower the price of district heating in the city and also reduce CO2 emissions. The construction of this biomass heating plant in western Serbia has started in November.
The project is worth around 2.4 million euros and it should be completed in October next year, when the plant should enter trial operation. It will have two wooden biomass boilers with thermal output of 0.9 MW each, plus a backup 2.5 MW gas-fired boiler. According to projections, biomass boilers will provide about 95 % of thermal energy needed for district heating service, while gas will provide the remaining 5 %.
In June 2017, Serbian Minister of Energy and Mining Aleksandar Antic signed a loan and donation agreement with the representatives of German KfW Bank and Swiss Government that will enable ten heating plants in Serbia to switch from using fossil fuel to renewable energy sources, namely biomass.
Total worth of the project is 27 million euros, which also includes a 2 million euros grant from KfW Bank and 5 million euros grant from Swiss Government. The agreements on financing the transition of district heating companies from fossil fuel to biomass are part of the project Stimulating Renewable Energy – the Development of the Biomass Market in Serbia (DKTI) which was launched in Serbia back in 2012 with a feasibility study for Subotica district heating company. The signing of the agreement marked the start of first stage of that project, with total value of 108 million euros. The loan was approved under very favorable conditions which include a low interest rate of 1.1 %, five-year grace period and a ten-year deadline for the municipalities which get the loans to repay the money. The aim is to convert as many heating plants as possible from fossil fuels to biomass or other renewable energy sources. The first stage will include heating plants in the municipalities of Mali Zvornik, Nova Varos, Novi Pazar, Prijepolje, Bajina Basta, Valjevo, Priboj, Kladovo and Majdanpek, while the municipality of Becej has already launched two projects – one to convert a part of its heating plant to biomass and the other aimed at using geothermal energy.
