Serbia shuns solar

The extent to which solar has fallen out of favor in Serbia since ambitious plans for a 1 GW solar farm fell through has been spelled out by the government's announcement that its PV ambitions amount to 10 MW of new capacity up to 2020.

Although the Belgrade government rushed through the adoption of an EU measure last month to liberalize its electricity market, the chief beneficiaries are likely to be wind developers, with national policy-makers aiming for 700 MW of new capacity by 2020.


In a bid to fast-track its EU membership ambition, Serbia last month rushed through adoption of the EU's Third Legislative Energy Package.

It is hoped the removal of the power monopoly enjoyed by the National Power Industry – Elektroprivreda Srbije, or EPS – and transmission grid owner Elektromreze Srbije (EMS), will see consumers shop around for alternative providers to the two state-owned companies.

Under the EU directive adopted, power companies can either entirely relinquish ownership of their grid, network management and corporate subsidiaries; can separate off only the management company; or can retain the status quo with the caveat that the latter two options would see the introduction of regulatory bodies with the power to issue binding decisions and penalties on the utilities concerned.

The hope is that the removal of the state-owned monopoly will permit access for independent generators and drive investment in energy projects.

But with large scale hydro supplying virtually all of the 29% of Serbia's current renewables power the government appears to be betting on wind to largely plug the gap in a country in which only 5-6 MW of power is supplied by photovoltaics.

Meanwhile, the legacy of the nation's previous high-profile attempt to embrace solar is still dragging through the courts after Serbia's flagship PV project, the 1 GW solar farm owned by Luxembourg-based Securum Equity Partners Europe (SEPE) was abandoned.

In 2013, SEPE announced it would bring Serbia's government to the International Court of Arbitration in London over abandoning plans for the construction of the project and demanding €1.7 billion ($1.97 billion) compensation.

SEPE argues the Serbian government did not provide the land promised for the project whilst the Serbian ministry of energy says it offered land ten times the area requested but SEPE rejected it.

Sungrow adds 20MW inverters in California Solar Project

December 9, 2014, Sungrow, the second largest PV inverter manufacturer in the world. Announced it completed the commissioning of its inverters for the TA Acacia solar project in Los Angeles County on the outskirts of Lancaster, California.

Construction of the 28.4-MWdc project took place from July to November 2014, generating more than 400 jobs during peak construction. Sungrow supplied 25 SG800MX inverters, which were integrated into 1.6-MW Integrated Power Stations to convert and connect the 94,340 Canadian Solar PV modules to the power grid. The SG800MX was released in the US in Q4 2013, has received lots of positive feedback, and has been deployed in many ground mount utility projects in US due to its superior performance and grid friendly functionality. Canadian Solar developed the project, and White Construction provided Engineering, Procurement, and Construction services (EPC). The 20 year Power Purchase Agreement with PG&E was approved by the California Public Utilities Commission, and the system was recently sold to Dominion Virginia Power. The total system output will be enough to power more than 6,100 homes and offset a total of 31,500 tons of carbon dioxide.

“The 28.4-MWdc TA Acacia project is a milestone for Sungrow in the U.S. and we are pleased to be part of it,” said Renxian Cao, chairman of Sungrow Power Supply. “As Sungrow keeps expanding our service infrastructure and installation base in US, we are committed to supporting Canadian Solar and other customers from coast to coast in the United States.”


“The TA Acacia Facility demonstrates that large scale solar PV can be a significant, viable, and sustainable component of California’s energy mix,” said Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Solar Inc. “As the leading manufacturer in North America, we take great pride that our modules will now be generating over 20 years of clean, emission-free renewable energy in southern California.”