Macedonian plans to move decisively forward with decarbonisation are making a big leap forward. The EBRD is lending €5.9 million to ELEM, the state-owned electricity company, to build the first large-scale solar power plant on the site of an exhausted lignite coal mine. The company will meet the rest of the total costs estimated at €8.7 million.
The new solar plant is ELEM’s first and will be the largest in the country. Once operational it will produce nearly 15 GWh a year of electricity and displace 12,177 tonnes of CO2 a year.
The country, whose capital Skopje was recently named one of Europe’s most polluted cities, aims to source 23 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020.
This project will help the country reduce its reliance on aging lignite-fired infrastructure and also help the local community in the Kicevo municipality, traditionally reliant on lignite mining and generation, to develop more sustainable practices.
ELEM, a public electricity generation utility owned by the Macedonian government, provides 90 percent of the country’s domestic electricity production – about 3,600 GWh from two thermal power plants and 1,250 GWh from eight hydropower plants.
Further support for decarbonisation and renewable energy targets comes in the shape of EBRD technical assistance in designing competitive renewable tenders for 200 MW of solar capacity and 150 MW of wind power capacity.
To date, the EBRD has invested more than €1.8 billion in 113 projects in the Macedonian economy.
Original source: EBRD
Published on 04 January 2019