Montenegro’s first landfill-gas power plant has moved into regular operation at the Možura municipal waste landfill between Bar and Ulcinj, creating a small but important new reference point for the country’s waste-management, renewable-energy and local-revenue policy. The plant entered trial operation in late December 2025, was placed into regular operation on 25 February 2026, and is expected to generate around €600,000 in electricity-sales revenue this year.
The project is modest in scale, but strategically useful. It converts landfill gas that would otherwise be flared into electricity sold on the market, while also reducing emissions, improving gas control at the landfill and adding local power generation to Montenegro’s electricity system. The total expected investment value is €1.68 million, financed mainly by Možura, with support from Montenegro’s Eco Fund and a Slovenian development grant through CMSR, the Centre for International Cooperation and Development.
The operational data so far suggest that the plant is performing in line with its design case. According to Možura, the facility has been operating stably at its projected maximum capacity of 1,000 kilowatts, with electricity continuously delivered into the network. Since commissioning, the plant has produced more than 4.1 GWh of electricity at the generator output and recorded more than 4,200 operating hours, without technical problems requiring extraordinary intervention.
The financial model is simple but revealing. Možura’s 2026 work programme assumed plant operation at 95 per cent of annual working hours, or 8,322 hours per year. For revenue planning, the company used the 2024 Montenegrin exchange price, reduced by a trader’s fee, resulting in an assumed price of €91.59/MWh and estimated annual electricity-sales revenue of €609,769.59.
That makes the project more than an environmental upgrade. At a projected annual revenue level of roughly €610,000, a €1.68 million investment has the profile of a revenue-generating municipal infrastructure asset rather than a pure compliance cost. Even allowing for operating expenses, maintenance, market-price volatility and gas-output decline over time, the plant shows how landfill operators can create value from environmental obligations when gas capture, grid connection and market access are properly structured.
The project also exposes Montenegro’s changing electricity-market reality. The electricity produced at Možura is sold on the market, meaning revenue depends on exchange prices rather than a fixed symbolic value. Senad Arabelović, head of Možura, noted that price movements must be monitored carefully, because this type of electricity can be worth very little during solar-heavy days, while prices rise on other days. That comment captures a wider shift in Montenegro’s power sector: even small generators now operate inside a more volatile trading environment shaped by solar output, demand patterns and regional market conditions.
For local energy security, the numbers remain small but visible. The electricity delivered to the grid is estimated to be sufficient to supply up to 400 households annually, after covering part of Možura’s own system consumption. In a national power system dominated by larger hydro, thermal and renewable-generation discussions, the Možura plant shows the value of distributed, site-specific generation where local infrastructure can reduce emissions and generate power from existing waste streams.
The environmental value is just as important as the revenue line. Landfill gas is not only an unused energy source; it is also a risk that must be controlled. Možura’s gas collection, transport and flaring system has been operating since 2016, running 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Regular measurements showed that the gas was of sufficient quality and quantity to support electricity generation. In 2025, before the gas was redirected to the power plant, 3.69 million normal cubic metres of landfill gas were burned through the eco-flare system.
By moving from flaring to power production, Možura has effectively turned a long-term environmental-management obligation into a monetised energy asset. This is particularly relevant because landfill operators remain responsible for managing gas even after a site closes. Možura expects sufficient landfill-gas quantities for uninterrupted and economically justified plant operation for five to seven years after landfill closure, depending on waste-disposal dynamics, waste composition, closure methods, technical operating conditions and continued gas monitoring.
The financing structure also offers a useful model for other municipal and environmental projects in Montenegro. The Eco Fund financed the preparation and review of the main design and the environmental-impact assessment documentation, while the Slovenian CMSR grant contributed €631,803 toward the plant’s construction phases. Možura covered the remaining cost from its own funds. This blended structure shows how small infrastructure projects can become investable when municipal balance-sheet capacity is combined with targeted environmental grants and technically prepared documentation.
For Montenegro, the wider question is whether Možura remains an isolated success or becomes a replicable model. The country still faces significant waste-management and landfill-compliance challenges, while EU accession will increase pressure for better environmental standards, methane control, circular-economy measures and more transparent municipal infrastructure planning. Landfill-gas electricity will not solve those problems alone, but it can become part of a broader package that includes better waste separation, recycling, methane capture, wastewater treatment, composting and energy recovery.
The project is also relevant for banks and public-sector financiers. It has measurable inputs, a defined asset, a clear environmental purpose, a market-based revenue stream, a grant-supported capital structure and operational data that can be monitored. Those features make it more bankable than many loosely prepared municipal initiatives. For future projects, the same logic could be expanded into structured waste-to-energy, biogas, wastewater-sludge energy, municipal solar and energy-efficiency investments, provided that technical documentation and revenue assumptions are credible.
Možura’s landfill-gas plant is therefore a small project with a larger policy signal. It shows that Montenegro’s environmental infrastructure does not have to be framed only as a regulatory burden. With the right design, grid connection, grant support and market route, a landfill can reduce emissions, strengthen local energy production and create a recurring revenue stream. The next test is whether Montenegro can turn that example into a wider portfolio of municipal infrastructure projects prepared to EU standards and disciplined enough to attract long-term financing.
