The potential of solar energy in Serbia has been unreasonably neglected over the past years. The country with more solar radiation hours than most European countries has so far installed a mere 21 MW of solar capacity.

Experts from Serbia and abroad agree that Serbia’s solar industry is poised for a boom in the next 5 to 10 years. Renewable sources, particularly solar energy, can play a key role in creating green jobs and driving Serbia’s economic recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Ministry of Mining and Energy, Energy Community Secretariat, Serbian Chamber of Commerce, and Serbian Association of District Heating Plants have institutionally supported the Balkan Green Energy News portal in organizing this important event

The European Green Deal provides the country with an opportunity to transform and decarbonize its energy sector and the economy as a whole and steer them towards sustainable, competitive, and climate-neutral growth.

Deputy Prime Minister Zorana Mihajlović will open the conference

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the conference will be held in a hybrid format – live at the Radisson Collection hotel in Belgrade for panelists and virtually via Zoom for attendees. Attendance is free of charge, with registration beginning on March 22. Simultaneous translation into English is provided.

The conference will be ceremonially opened by Zorana Mihajlović, Serbia’s Deputy Prime Minister and mining and energy Minister, and Janez Kopač, Director of the Energy Community Secretariat. Among the keynote speakers will be Maja Turković, Country Director for Serbia at CWP Global, one of the leading renewable energy investors in Serbia, and Zsuzsanna Hargitai, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s (EBRD) Director for the Western Balkans.

The Ministry of Mining and Energy, Energy Community Secretariat, Serbian Chamber of Commerce, and Serbian Association of District Heating Plants have institutionally supported the Balkan Green Energy News portal in organizing this important event.

Four panels for four applications of solar

The panelists of the kick-off panel will address the following topics: a new regulatory framework for investment in large-scale solar power plants, the design of future renewable energy auctions and the development of market-based solar power projects, the significance of establishing intraday trading on the electricity exchange for the development of a market, balancing responsibility for electricity produced from renewable sources, power offtake by the universal supplier, and the sale of green electricity on the market.

The panel will also include a presentation of Serbia’s first project to produce energy storage modules and turn-key solutions based on lithium-ion batteries.

The leading companies and institutions committed to facilitating renewable energy and solar energy developments in Serbia supported the conference:  CWP Group, EBRD, WV-International NBT, Energize, Al Pack Group, Luxor Solar, BDK Advokati and SOLID from Austria.

The second panel is organized in collaboration with the EBRD’s Renewable District Energy in the Western Balkans (ReDEWeB) Fund, and the Government of Austria. Participants will discuss how solar-thermal technology can contribute to the decarbonization of district energy systems and talk about the state’s support to heating plants in the process of transition from coal and mazut to solar thermal complementary technologies. The panel will also see a presentation of achievements in the field of innovation and smart development.

The third panel will investigate the opportunities for the business sector and companies to apply solar energy solutions, focusing on models of solar power plant development, availability of financial mechanisms, and technologies.

Speakers will discuss the development of solar capacities for self-consumption and sale, not only from the point of view of guaranteed savings but also in catching up with the emerging global trend of doing business in a sustainable and climate-neutral way.

The fourth panel will address the application of solar energy in households, or more precisely prosumers, whose activity, individually or through energy cooperatives, is an important step towards the energy transition and the democratization of energy.

“At a time when Serbia is faced with a deep economic crisis caused the COVID-19 pandemic, excessive air pollution, and reliance on coal in electricity generation, solar energy is part of the solution, and a great opportunity for decarbonization,” said Branislava Jovičić, editor-in-chief of Balkan Green Energy News.

Jovičić added that the conference is supported by the leading companies and institutions committed to facilitating renewable energy and solar energy developments in Serbia:  CWP Group, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, WV-International NBT, Energize, Al Pack Group, Luxor Solar, BDK Advokati, and SOLID from Austria.

The readers are invited to send questions to the conference’s participants, either in comments to this article or via email at bgenevents@balkangreenenergynews.com.