ENERGO: Serbia signs €8.5mn grant agreement on Trans-Balkan electricity transmission corridor

The Serbian government said on January 23 it has signed a grant agreement of €8.5mn with Germany’s KfW for the implementation of the fourth section of the Trans-Balkan electricity transmission corridor.

The corridor is connecting the electricity transmission systems of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia with Croatia, Hungary, Romania and Italy through 400 kV overhead lines and submarine cables.

Director of the national transmission system operator Elektromreza Srbije, Jelena Matejic, said that this project is the largest in terms of value that the company has implemented.

The length of the fourth section of the corridor is 83 km with one part stretching from Bajina Basta to the Montenegro’s border, and the other connecting Serbia with Bosnia.

Matejic pointed out that work on the fourth section should begin in 2026, after the third section running from Kraljevo to Bajina Basta is completed. The construction of the third section will start in the first quarter of next year. The second section of the project was finished in 2022.

Serbia's Energy Minister Dubravka Djedovic said that 120 km of the Trans-Balkan Corridor have already been built, from Pancevo to the border with Romania and from Kragujevac to Kraljevo.

"The project puts Serbia back on the energy map of European energy corridors," Djedovic said, adding that the project will increase the energy stability and security of electricity supply in the country.

Djedovic announced that the ministry is planning further investments in the energy system, such as the construction of the Bistrica hydropower plant, as well as the Trans-European Corridor through Vojvodina, and in central Serbia, for power connection with Bulgaria.

Djedovic underlined that €900mn new investments in energy are planned in the coming period, and an additional €10bn by 2050.

EU's ambassador to Serbia, Emanuele Giaufret, said that in addition to the KfW donation, the EU will provide €10.5mn for the fourth section of the corridor, while Elektromreza Srbije will participate in the project with €4.5mn.