Serbia ran its first wind auction. One of the winners is now sending power to the grid.
Masdar and Taaleri Energia marked the formal start of operation of the 154 MW Čibuk 2 wind farm at a ceremony in Belgrade. The plant stands between the villages of Bavanište and Mramorak in the municipality of Kovin, in southern Banat, beside the 158 MW Čibuk 1 that the same two partners commissioned in 2019. Čibuk 2 secured a market premium at Serbia’s first wind power auction, and its project company signed a power purchase agreement plus balancing and market-premium contracts with state utility Elektroprivreda Srbije. UniCredit and Erste provided the project financing. Nordex supplied the equipment. Balkan Green Energy News reports the combined 312 MW complex as the largest in the Western Balkans, carrying more than EUR 500 million of foreign direct investment and generating the equivalent of the annual needs of an estimated 178,800 households.
Why it matters
An auction result is a price, and a price is only worth what someone builds against it. Čibuk 2 ran the full circuit in a country that had never held a wind auction before. Bid, market premium, PPA, financial close two years ago, turbines turning now. Serbia’s Minister of Mining and Energy, Dubravka Đedović Handanović, said the two Čibuk plants currently account for around 25 percent of the country’s combined wind and solar capacity.
What it means for MENA
Masdar and Taaleri won Čibuk 2 at Serbia’s opening wind auction and carried it to operation. When Saudi Arabia’s NREP and Egypt’s next tranche score these same names, that is the record that should carry weight. A developer who has converted a first national auction into running megawatts has met risks a buyer of finished assets never has.
