Government of Montenegro Gives a Boost to Velje Brdo Solar Power Plant Construction
On 13 May 2021, the Government of Montenegro (the “Government”) adopted the information on initiating activities on construction of Velje Brdo solar power plant, near Podgorica (the “Information”).
The Information envisaged that the Ministry of Capital Investments (“Ministry”) recognized the increase of investors’ interest for the construction of facilities using renewable energy sources, for which the right to an incentive price is not envisaged. Consequently, significant interest was expressed in the construction of a solar power plant on Velje Brdo site, near Podgorica.
Having in mind the commitment to the development of the energy industry based on the construction of new generation capacities that use renewable sources as a resource, with an aim to reduce import of electricity, the Government instructed the Ministry to form the special commission, whose task will be to prepare tender documentation which would regulate all conditions and necessary steps in order to ensure the construction of the solar power plant at Velje Brdo site. After the tender documentation preparation and its acceptance by the Government, it is expected that the Ministry will announce the public invitation, according to which it would conduct a tender procedure for the investor’s selection.
The initial interest was shown by the company S&Z Energiesysteme, which was formalized through the submission of a request for the tender for investor selection regarding the construction of a solar power plant at the Velje Brdo site.
Based on the current practice, the construction of the solar power plant on the ground has been enabled through the model of state land leasing, in accordance with the State Property Law.
It is expected that the Ministry would appoint the special commission soon, with the primary aim to prepare tender documentation, thus injecting the significant boost to the process of the project’s development.
Project description
Despite the fact that the tender procedure was initially planned to take place in 2020, it was postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Velje Brdo site is initially designated as suitable for the construction of a solar power plant with an installed capacity of 50MW, however, there were serious indications by the potential investors pointing out that this site has significantly higher potential (app. 150 – 300 MW).
In addition, construction of the Velje Brdo solar power plant will represent the first of such kind in Podgorica. The local site study “Velje Brdo – solar power plant” has been in place since December 2018, while specifying that area covers about 69 hectares within the cadastral municipality of Velje Brdo, and 152,000 solar modules were planned to be set out.
The information contained in this document is given for general purposes only and should not be interpreted as legal advice on any particular matter.