New feed-in tariffs discourage investors in wind energy

Representatives of Continental Wind Partners, which intends to build a wind farm in Kovin, are disappointed and discouraged with new measures proposed by the Serbian Energy Ministry regarding wind energy, said CWP President Mark Crandall.

- We believe it is a step backward for Serbia in the field of renewable energy, and not a step forward - he told the press after the presentation of the new National Action Plan for the use of renewable sources of energy by 2020.

Mr. Crandall said that he did not know if the company would be able to finance the planned investments in wind energy in Serbia under new conditions.

Under the new proposal, feed-in tariffs for wind energy are reduced from 9.5 eurocents to 9.2 eurocents per kilowatt-hour.

The decision to support the construction of wind generators with the total installed capacity of 500 megawatts instead of 450 MW, as originally planned, is completely irrelevant and represents a political move, Crandall assessed.

Using wind energy to generate electricity is the only technology that could be applied to a greater extent in Serbia, he said and added that the use of wind energy was inevitable if Serbia wanted to achieve its goal and increase the share of electricity obtained from sustainable sources to 27 percent by 2020.