The green transition is a way out of the current energy crisis, and the potential that renewable energy sources bring with them can be unlocked through cooperation between international organizations, the government and the private sector.
This was announced at the second panel “Optimal Energy Mix for the Future and Challenges of Renewable Energy Integration”, which was organized as part of the EPCG NET 2023 Energy Symposium.
Executive Director of the Montenegrin Electric Transmission System (CGES), Ivan Asanović, said that there are several types of challenges in terms of the transmission network.
The first category is system development. We all know that there is nothing to connect new sources or any kind of green transition, if the system is not ready to receive these sources, become stable and transfer energy from producers to consumers – said Asanović.
He pointed out that the company is proud of the Trans-Balkan Corridor project, the first part of which is an undersea cabal with Italy. In the continuation of this project, the construction of two transmission lines with Serbia of 400 kilowatts is planned, and interconnection with Bosnia is planned. The Trans-Balkan Corridor should be an energy highway from Italy to the Balkan countries. We have successfully stepped into that project, the effects of which have been talked about a lot – said Asanović.
Speaking about development challenges, Asanović stated that the biggest development challenge is to complete the transmission line from Lastva to Pljevlja by the end of the year, stating that there are many obstacles, but that this project is a priority. In this way, Montenegro will get its 400 kilowatt ring and an extremely stable network – pointed out Asanović.
He pointed out that the realization of the construction of all transmission lines is a constant challenge, as well as that there are operational challenges.
We also have regulatory challenges. The methodology by which auxiliary services are now performed, when you have a large influx of renewable sources, is not adequate. The new methodology will have to enable us to overcome this more easily – stated Asanović.
He pointed out that the connection of the market represents the connection of many more things, which should happen on a legal and technical basis. Dialogue between the two parties is very important in order to reach the desired agreement – Asanović pointed out.
CWP Global Director for Europe, Maja Turković, said that strategic partnerships between state and private companies are increasingly being pursued. Strategic partnerships are good, but they will not be sustainable if they are not mutually beneficial. That will be our biggest challenge – competitiveness on projects – said Turković.
Speaking about the stability of the energy system, Turković pointed out that it is very important, because institutional decisions are made based on it. She said that only the state can protect its resources.
The only way to protect their resources is for the other party, to whom you give the resource, to do everything they committed to, within the time frame they committed to, or else they will bear the financial consequences for it – said Turković.
The vice president of UGT Renewables, Nebojša Arsenijević, pointed out that the public sector is facing problems, among which are the lack of capacity and the problem with regulations in a certain country. He said that there is an attitude that wind and solar projects are not financed by state companies. The transition process must be planned and run on its own – said Arsenijević.
Professor and representative of Fractal d.o.o. Split, Ranko Goić, speaking about renewable energy sources, said that four or five wind power plants are being built in Croatia, which are the remains of old projects started ten or 15 years ago. What is characteristic in Croatia, and what happened in the last two, three years, in terms of the actual implementation of projects, are solar power plants – said Goić.
Also, as he pointed out, they have a lot of funds and financial incentives that caused the “stampede of power plant construction”. According to him, now everyone wants to have installed solar.
It did not happen only in Croatia, but also in most EU countries, that the requirements for connections increased. Then we got into a situation where we wondered what we were doing, because now we need more connections than the system has megawatts – said Gioć and added that when they wanted to solve it, they changed the laws, but things remained the same again, because it doesn’t solve it that way.
Technical director, BELEN, Dejan Drašković, said that our electricity prices are constant. What we managed to show is that everything that was offered on the stock market could find its own sale – said Drašković.
Director, SEEPEX A.D. Miloš Mladenović said that the existing system of active prices is the only one that can provide an appropriate price signal to decision makers and that can indicate that something needs to be changed. It is necessary to provide customers with enough flexibility so that they can have contracts with several suppliers at the same time – said Mladenović.
What he said is that it is necessary to avoid narratives about the regional market and that is “out of fashion”, and talk more about connecting with the single European market.
The head of the EP HZHB Market Sector, Ervin Leko, also spoke on the panel.
As part of the symposium, the lecture “Trends and perspectives of the use of batteries in power systems” was held, where the presenters were the representative of the Association of Power Engineers and professor of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Belgrade Nikola Rajaković, representative of Deloitte Belgrade Željko Marković and professor of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Belgrade Tomislav Rajić.
