Italy has agreed to pay “one of the highest feed-in tariffs” in Europe for electricity produced from renewable sources in Serbia, the Balkan country said.
The agreement guaranteeing the price of 155 euros ($214.5) per megawatt hour will be signed by respective government officials in Rome tomorrow, supporting Italian energy investments in Serbia that may exceed 1 billion euros, Serbia’s Infrastructure Ministry said in an e-mailed statement.
Beneficiaries will include Seci Energia SpA, a unit of Maccaferri Group, which earlier this year agreed with Serbia’s power monopoly, Elektroprivreda Srbije, to jointly develop 10 hydro plants of more than 300 megawatts combined capacity for estimated 819 million euros. The plants on the Drina River will help Italy meet a goal of deriving 17 percent of its power consumption from renewable sources by 2020.
Seci Energia and Elektroprivreda, or EPS, are also working on three plants on the Ibar River in southern Serbia, worth an estimated 300 million euros and totaling 103 megawatts.
The accord in Rome will be signed by Italy’s Industry Minister Paolo Romani, who oversaw the agreement between Seci and EPS. He said then the electricity will be exported to Italy via Montenegro and an underwater cable across the Adriatic Sea. Edison Agrees With Serbian EPS to Complete Kolubara B Plant (1)
Edison SpA’s expected development of Serbia’s coal-fired, 750-megawatt plant Kolubara B plant will also be discussed tomorrow as EPS prepares to form a joint venture for the investment worth estimated 1 billion euros, the statement said.