New Connection Studies of electricity producers from variable renewable energy sources will be postponed until 2029, according to the amendments to the Decree on Conditions of Supply and Supply of Electricity (izmena Uredbe o uslovima isporuke i snabdevanja električnom energijom) adopted by the Government of Republic of Serbia on May 21.
According to the amendments, connection studies for applications submitted by the date of entry into force of the Regulation will be prepared in the period from September 1 to December 31, 2029. The decree was published in the Official Gazette on May 22 and enters into force eight days later.
This changes the deadline defined by the previous amendments to the 2025 Regulation, which envisaged that connection studies would be prepared from July 1 to October 31, 2026.
Active customer – rules, connection studies, bank guarantees
The Regulation also adopts a regulatory framework for Active Customers – end customers who install a power plant and/or batteries on their internal installations and plan to feed excess electricity into the grid or provide services to the system.
To obtain the status of an active customer, the power plant must have an installed capacity of at least 150 kW, and its power must not exceed the approved power of the connection for the direction of consumption.
For the preparation of a connection study for power plants up to 50 MW, it is necessary to provide deposited funds in the amount of 50,000 EUR. The amount is increased by 400 EUR per MW for power plants up to 100 MW, 300 EUR per MW for power plants from 100 to 250 MW and 200 EUR for each MW of installed power of the power plant above 250 MW.
Applications are submitted in two windows per year: January-February and July-August. The studies are conducted in two time intervals, from March 1 to June 30 and from September 1 to December 31.
The bank guarantee after obtaining the study amounts to 12,500 EUR per MW of installed capacity of the power plant, i.e. the electricity storage facility in the event that the potential active buyer plans to build only the electricity storage facility.
If a new facility of the end customer is being built without a power plant and/or an electricity storage facility, the bank guarantee amounts to 25,000 EUR per MW of power determined by the connection study for the direction of electricity consumption.
When it comes to power plants that use electricity for their own needs, without the possibility of handing it over to the electro-energy system, a bank guarantee for the construction of the facility is not provided.
To connect to the distribution system, the cost of the study ranges from 3,000 EUR for power plants up to 1 MW.
Based on the results of the connection study, temporary restrictions on the active power of a power plant with an installed capacity of more than 200 kW may be applied, in the amount of up to 30% of the approved power and up to a maximum of 5% of the total annual electricity production per facility.
A set of customers in the same building
The concept of a Group is also introduced, a set of customers in the same building who jointly act as one active customer, jointly and severally liable for all obligations arising from the construction, management and use of a common power plant and/or electricity storage facility.
Foto: Pixabay/Vivianne M.
