Belgian wind project developer Elicio NV intends to add up to 200 MW of wind capacity in Serbia, said the company's business development director Emmanuel Van Vyve on Wednesday.

Speaking at the RES Serbia 2021 conference, Van Vyve said that these projects were at an “early planning stage”, but that Elicio NV hoped to have them ready for the wind auctions that the Serbian government is expected to announce soon. Serbia’s energy minister Zorana Mihajlovic said on Wednesday that Serbia will hold its first auctions for premiums for electricity from wind power and solar power plants in December.

Elicio NV already has two wind farms in Serbia, with a combined capacity of 50 MW. They have been in operation for over two years, although both experienced difficulties during their development phase due to Serbia’s complicated permitting regime.

“In the future, as more investors enter the market, it is important that this permitting regime is streamlined,” said Van Vyve, who also thinks that requirements related to the operating licence should be simplified to give investors more flexibility.

Elicio NV’s business development director also expressed his confidence that the introduction of auctions in Serbia was a step in the right direction, saying that they were “an effective tool in achieving the ambition of increasing renewable generation while obtaining the best possible price for it.” However, for such a system to be effective, Serbia should define the amount of renewable capacity it will auction in the future, he added.

Auctions should be categorised according to the type of technology used and the specific characteristics of the chosen location, both in terms of capacity and technology, so as not to end up with solar projects winning most of the available capacity. “This may be good in the very short term, but not in the long-term because solar has a very specific profile of production and therefore you lose the diversity which allows for a proper stabilisation of the system,” said Van Vyve.