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The owner of the biogas plant Bioelektro NAC in Cestereg Mihajlo Nakomčic, and associates: If the 24-year old decided to sell his electricity on the open market, he would lose the feed-in tariff agreed on for twelve years. SERBIA Searching for the Perfect Substrate Belgrade Serbian biogas plant operators are currently struggling with low energy crop yields and the poor availability of residual and waste materials. Added to that, some energy suppliers sometimes fail to pay out feed-in tariffs for months. And a tendering procedure for compensation introduced in 2021 is slowing down the emerging industry. Author: Klaus Sieg Wind is driving grey clouds across the sky. There is a fine drizzle in the air, dampening blades of grass, cows, stable roofs, pipes, agitators, and the pebbles on the digester’s roof alike. Finally, rain. “Unfortunately, it has come too late,” says Srdjan Miljanic, zipping up his gray weather jacket. Serbia has seen hardly any rainfall since the spring of 2022. Now it’s September 2022. The yellow-brown corn in the vast fields of Vojvodina is not even kneehigh. “So far, we’ve only been able to harvest three to four tons of silage per hectare,” says the 39-year-old farm manager, pointing to the storage facility. “Ideally, it should be eight to nine.” His boss, who is the investor of Agro Plus Energy, had expected something completely different. Since 2006, the agricultural trader has been operating the 800-hectare former state farm, cultivating corn, soybeans, sunflowers, and wheat. The Vojvodina region boasts some of Europe’s finest soils, second only to Ukraine. “However, the farm was in a state of complete disrepair,” explains Srdjan Miljanic, a qualified economist. Miljanic leased 500 hectares and invested a lot of money in the renovation of the silos and silage storage, in the stables for the 450 cows and in a very modern machine park. Four years ago, he added the biogas plant made by the Austrian manufacturer Biogest in order to diversify his revenues and, above all, to compensate PHOTOGRAPHS: JÖRG BÖTHLING 54
BIOGAS JOURNAL | AUTUMN_<strong>2023</strong> <strong>EN</strong>GLISH ISSUE for the sharp drop in milk prices. The digester of the Biogest plant has a solid concrete roof and an outside gas tank. Srdjan Miljanic is happy with the technology. With the excrements from the barns and 20,000 tons of silage grown on 400 hectares, he achieved an operational capacity of 96 to 97 percent. “Last year, we generated 8,400 megawatt-hours of electrical energy,” the plant manager proudly recounts. This year, an additional 150 hectares of silage are required to operate the facility at a capacity between 70 and 80 percent. Additional purchasing is not an alternative. At around 95 euros per ton, the market price has quadrupled. “This year, we’re just struggling to survive,” says Srdjan Miljanic raising his shoulders in resignation. Fortunately, he can at least replace the mineral fertilizer with residues from the biogas plant on 250 hectares. With price increases of 300 percent due to the Ukraine war, no small advantage. Auction Process Hampers Biogas Plant Expansion Initially, the Serbian government had created favorable conditions for biogas plants like Agro Plus Energy, offering a guaranteed feed-in tariff of 19.3 cents per kilowatt-hour for twelve years, along with an annual inflation adjustment based on the Euro. However, conditions have changed since the introduction of the Renewable Energy Law in 2021, which implemented an auction process. So far, there are 34 plants in Serbia in 2022, another 82 projects are in the pipeline, including many operators, who still wanted to secure the old feed-in tariff. The question of whether that can be achieved is very uncertain. “We don’t know yet how the new rule will work,” says Lidija Carević from the Serbian Biogas Association in Belgrade. Together with her associate Goran Knežević, she welcomes us in the rooms of the association on the 19th floor of a new business tower in Novi Beograd, a district of Belgrade. The view from the window is over a district built after World War II and the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers. The grandiose panorama is deceptive. The Serbian Biogas Association, founded ten years ago, merely has a desk in a co-working space at this lofty height, which acts as a cost-effective measure. Antje Kramer is here on a business assignment from the German Biogas Association. There is a partnership between the two associations, supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the climate partnership between Germany and Serbia, as part of the Balkan country’s preparations for accession to the EU. Farm Manager Srdjan Miljanica at Agro plus Energy: “Last year, we fed in 8,400 of megawatt hours of electrical energy,” says the operations manager with satisfaction. Svetozar Miletic in Sombor: This picture shows the agricultural operation Agro plus Energy, with a biogas plant built by the Austrian manufacturer Biogest. So far, Serbia has produced almost 70 percent of electrical power by means of old coal-fired power plants. The aim is to change that. The partnership with the association is immensely helpful, whether it is for knowledge transfer, public relations, or support in lobbying efforts. “We have become important contacts for policymakers,” says Lidija Carević. And that is urgently needed. A new government has just been elected in Serbia. A lot is still in a state of flux, or to put it more clearly: 55
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