Serbia’s Agrivoltaic Project To Sport 660 MW Capacity

• PowerChina, Fintel Energija and MK Group identify the capacity of their Serbian agrivoltaic project as 660 MW
• They plan to start construction on a 50 kW pilot plant in the next 3 months in Kula municipality
• Future plans are to use solar power from the plant to produce green hydrogen and also create 300 tons a day of urea mineral fertilizer

A total of 660 MW is the capacity that Chinese EPC company PowerChina, Serbian renewables developer Fintel Energija and investment manager MK Group have identified for their joint project that they say is the largest agrivoltaic facility in all of Europe, and the 1^st of its kind in the Balkans.

The trio had initially revealed the project's whereabouts and other details in July 2021 without identifying the exact capacity they had in mind (see €340 Million Agrivoltaic Project Planned In Serbia).

A year later, there is progress happening as the project partners have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to implement the project in Serbia's Kula municipality. To start with, they plan to begin construction on a 50-kW pilot solar park, in the next 3 months.

When implemented fully, the project will have 660 MW capacity covering 770 hectares of land, generating around 832 GWh annually. It will be enough to meet the electricity needs of approximately 200,000 households.

The partners have etched green hydrogen production plans too, related to this project.

"This project will bring another innovation to the Serbian energy sector, as a plant for the production of green hydrogen will be built within the 2^nd phase, which will be powered by a solar power plant," shared MK Group's Director of the Finance and Risk Department, Andrija Vukovic. "In addition to green hydrogen, this technology will enable the production of 300 tons of urea mineral fertilizer per day, obtained in a completely sustainable way."

While this is certainly a large-scale project by agrivoltaic standards as mostly there are facilities of lower capacities planned in this space, in terms of large-scale solar power projects planned in Europe, the 660 MW plant adds its name to the club of the largest solar systems too.

Currently, the 'largest' PV facility in Europe is Iberdrola's 500 MW DC Núñez de Balboa Solar Power Project in Spain. Engie and Neoen are also planning a 1 GW subsidy free solar and 40 MW energy storage facility with 10 MW electrolyzer in France. Recently, Croatia reported a 950.9 MW solar PV project proposed by El Sun Energy (see 950 MW Solar Project Proposed For Croatia).