Solar energy

Solar energy is not only an ecological and energy flywheel of society, it is also a great driver of scientific and intellectual development.Thus, many technologically developed countries are large producers of solar panels and solar cells. This is primarily referring to Germany, the USA, China and others which are leaders in the production of solar equipment, standardization, exploitation and management in this area.So, for example, trained managers who monitor and predict further trends in the solar industry, the movement of subsidies or “feed-in” tariffs, equipment prices and worldwide demand. On the other hand, very precise standards have been defined for engineers, installers and solar plant workers, in order to minimize errors and omissions.

If we analyze the situation in Serbia regarding the installed capacity of solar photovoltaic systems, we can conclude that we are at the very beginning and that progress is being made slowly. Namely, in 2009 a quota of available power of only 5 MW has been announced, which will be subsidized even by the end of 2012. not fully utilized. Then the Ministry of Energy for 2013 offered a new 10 MW, of which 4 MW for solar power plants on buildings, 6 MW for solar power plants on land, which according to the Decree of the Government of Serbia will be valid until the end of 2015.

Solar energy in Serbia

It can be stated that Serbia is significantly behind in the construction of photovoltaic and thermal solar systems in relation to EU countries, but that in relation to the environment it is at a similar level. There are several reasons for this state of affairs. The first reason, which greatly slowed down investments in the past years, was the non-competitiveness of the domestic feed-in tariff compared to European countries. In Serbia, there was a fixed value for the subsidized price of electricity from solar photovoltaic panels, namely 23 cEUR/kWh, without distinguishing between systems on the ground or on the building and without taking into account the differences in the installed power of the power plant. This approach discouraged investors because investment-attractive countries such as Germany, the Czech Republic, Italy, and Spain had far higher and more favorable tariffs with additional benefits from banks and the states themselves, and as part of the EU plan to 2020. achieve the “20-20-20” goal. Namely, an obligation was agreed that by 2020 in order to combat climate change, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20% compared to 1990, to increase the share of renewable sources in consumption to 20%, and to achieve savings of 20% through energy efficiency measures. This is a great imperative for the EU, because these are societies that are big consumers, where the energy consumed per capita is several times higher than in Serbia. In order to achieve the set goals, the EU countries gave significant subsidies to investors so that many investments ended up there.
In business circles that deal with solar energy, there is a view that if the ROI is less than 10%, then the investment is not profitable. When you look at the past period, with the then prices of equipment for solar power plants, the payback time was 9.5 to 11.5 years with bad credit conditions. Also, in the world, buyout periods or incentive periods were 20 or 25 years, rarely 15, while in Serbia this period was and remains 12 years. With this approach, investing in the solar energy sector in Serbia was practically unprofitable, which demotivated investors.

Investment climate

However, the investment climate in Serbia has improved recently for at least two reasons. The first is that subsidies in developed countries have been significantly reduced, and are now at the level of those valid in our country, while Serbia has more hours of sunshine than, say, Germany, Denmark or the Czech Republic. On the other hand, the governments of these countries closely monitor the price movements of solar equipment, especially solar panels and inverters, so the drop in subsidies in the EU is dynamic. In some countries, an analysis and possible change of the feed-in tariff takes place every six months. In the last two years, the prices of solar panels have been reduced by four times on average, so it was necessary to react in terms of subsidies. Another reason relates to the excessive debts of some countries, such as the Czech Republic, Spain, and Italy, to investors and owners of solar power plants. If you look at the values of other feed-in tariffs for RES, the price of subsidized solar electricity is the highest, which makes it the biggest burden for the state, i.e. the end user. These large debts began to significantly affect the price of electricity in the mentioned countries. In Serbia, the price of electricity is still burdened by social restrictions, so this is one of the reasons why a small quota of installed power for solar systems is prescribed. 

The main problem that hinders the faster development and application of solar energy is the provision of funds to stimulate the purchase of produced electricity, in order to make solar energy economically attractive. Appropriate stimulus funds of the European Union are available to provide the necessary funds, which can be used through international and domestic financial institutions. 

Serbia certainly has an interest in engaging even more with the available potentials in a significant increase in the use of solar energy, which would ensure an increase in employment in the phases of research, production, assembly and servicing of solar equipment. This would also comply with the recommendations of the European Union on the use of renewable energy sources.

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