North Macedonia’s Largest Solar Power Plant Online

• GEN-I of Slovenia has brought online North Macedonia's largest solar power plant with 17 MW capacity
• It is located in Azambegovo in Sveti Nikole municipality with capacity to generate 25,000 MWh annually
• North Macedonia has another 130 MW solar PV capacity set to become operational over the next 2 years, announced the country's Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski
• Another PV project with 8 MW capacity was announced as operational in Kočani by Feroinvest that's led by North Macedonia's former Deputy Prime Minister Kocho Angjushev

Slovakia's green energy supplier GEN-I has commissioned a 17 MW solar power plant calling it the largest solar facility to date to have come online in North Macedonia, completing it 4 months ahead of the official commissioning deadline.

The 17 MW PV facility will generate 25,000 MWh of green energy annually which is enough to suffice electricity requirements of over 5,500 households. It also happens to be GEN-I's largest project to have come online, to date.

GEN-I won rights to the project in the country's maiden tender for 35 MW, out of which it won 17 MW located in Sveti Nikole municipality of Azambegovo. The project surpasses 10 MW solar plant commissioned by national utility JSC ESM in April 2022 (see Europe PV News Snippets).

At the commissioning ceremony of the project, North Macedonia's Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski pointed out that in the last 11 years a total of 16 MW solar power capacity was built in the country with tariffs ranging between €180 to €200.

"While for this power plant, the state paid €250. And about €2.7 million were paid into the budget by GEN-I Sun so that it could build the photovoltaic power plant of 17 MW. So now you, as the media and let the citizens appreciate, which model is better, the one in which the citizens pay private companies to have power plants or here where the companies pay the state to build a photovoltaic power plant," said Kovachevski.

Over the next 2 years, the government expects another 130 MW solar PV plants to come online for which premiums have been signed in the last 2 years.

"We have dealt with and are dealing with the energy crisis quickly and efficiently, but we are also setting a course for what the country should look like in the future when we talk about energy production and green industry and economy that we strive to create," added the Prime Minister. "Stability in the provision of electricity through all available resources is our top priority, especially in times of the world's biggest energy and economic crisis."

In a related development, an 8 MW Trkanje Solar PV Plant was announced as operational in the country recently by a company called Feroinvest along with partners in Kočani. Feroinvest is led by Kocho Angjushev, previously the deputy prime minister of North Macedonia. He announced the same in a LinkedIn post.

GEN-I has plans to install 1 GW new solar power capacity by 2030 as part of its long-term Strategic Development Plan (see 1 GW Solar Power Plan Of Slovenian Electricity Supplier).