Posted on 01 Feb 2024
Serbia’s Ministry of Mining and Energy signed last week a memorandum of understanding with Chinese companies Shanghai Fengling Renewables and Serbia Zijin Copper, Kallanish notes.
The Chinese companies plan to invest €2 billion ($2.16 billion) in the construction of wind, solar and hydrogen production capacity.
“The project includes the construction of a plant in the vicinity of the city of Bor with a total capacity of 2 gigawatts, i.e. a wind park with a capacity of 1,500 megawatts and a solar power plant with a capacity of 500 megawatts, as well as a plant for the production of green hydrogen with a capacity of about 30,000 tonnes/year,” says Serbian mining and energy minister, Dubravka Jedovic Handanivic.
According to the minister, the MOU is another step in Serbia’s journey to decarbonise the energy sector and to switch to cleaner, renewable energy sources.
All of the produced energy will be used to power copper mine and smelter near the city of Bor. The facilities are owned by Zijin Copper, which is one of the largest exporters of copper and precious metals in Serbia.
The construction work will be launched this quarter and overall capacity is expected to be commissioned by the middle of 2026. The hydrogen production plant will reach full capacity by the end of 2028.
The company, which at the end of 2018 took over the Bor Mining and Smelting Basin (SBM) in Bor, has repeatedly come under fire from environmentalists and local residents in eastern Serbia. They claim that the mine’s operation is resulting in air pollution.
Source:Kallanish
