HOUSEHOLDS AND BUSINESSMEN HAVE BEEN PRODUCING THEIR ELECTRICITY FOR A YEAR

A year has passed since the introduction of a new concept in Serbia’s energy sector, the so-called prosumerthat is, those who produce electricity themselves.

There are already 1,300 of these customers-producers of electricity from solar panels in the country, who are connected to the power system: 1,000 are households, and the rest are from the business category.

The state subsidizes citizens for half the cost of installing solar panels on roofs. The Minister of Energy, Dubravka Đedović, has announced a new competition for these subsidies with local self-governments.

– This is significant because we show that both citizens and small businesses are active in the energy transition. The state is there to encourage such investments. With the amendments to the Law on Renewable Energy Sources, which were adopted in April this year, we additionally regulated the concept of buyer-producer: for households, the installed power is 10.7 kilowatts, and for small businesses it is up to 150 kilowatts. So we limited some capacities to some extent in the sense that they have priority access to the distribution network, that they do not have any responsibilities, as is the case in the European Union – says Đedovićeva.

Predrag Matić, director of the Directorate for Planning and Investments in Elektrodistribucija Srbije, notes that 200 new users from the household category were connected in April alone.

– The key thing is that we remind everyone, in order to speed up the connection process even more, to introduce certification for contractors who would be responsible for everything done and for all the quality and safety of the work done. So we think that it would greatly improve and speed up that process – Matić pointed out.

E2 portal (RTS)