Autumn 2023 EN

ENGLISH ISSUE
BIOGAS JOURNAL | AUTUMN_2023
Processing corn for a facility that runs primarily on food waste. However,
these alone do not provide the operators with the desired return, and they
are not always available in sufficient quantity and quality.
Biogas plant in Cestereg. The 637-kW plant, which was put into operation
four years ago, is fed with silage, straw and manure from their own cows.
Biogest was the planner of the plant.
sures good results in the fields.
Mihajlo Nakomčić has fewer
options. Behind the farmer,
starlings chirp loudly in the
trees and on the ladder at the
digester as they prepare for
flight training. As planned,
the 24-year-old and his father
run the 637-kW plant with
silage, straw and manure from
his own cows, which was commissioned
four years ago. According to
him, the Biogest plant is running very well.
And on an area of 1,000 hectares, the family-run operation
produced enough silage over the past few years
to be able to fall back on a full stock despite periods of
drought. “But actually, we should sell the silage for the
current prices,” Nakomčić says. But then the biogas
plant would stand idle. He would be only too happy to
buy organic waste – if it were available.
But his biggest problem is the financial difficulties
of the state supplier EPS. For the past three months,
that company has failed to pay for the energy they
have been feeding them. Mihajlo Nakomčić vents his
anger: “We are currently financing the bank loan for
the biogas plant from the harvest yield, which wasn’t
originally planned.” There is no reaction to phone calls
by the headquarters of EPS in Belgrade. As a result,
news about incompetence in the
“We are currently
technical control of the company-owned
power plants is
financing the bank loan
for the biogas plant from the spreading. And blackouts are
occurring.
harvest yields, which wasn’t
But if Mihajlo Nakomčić decided
to sell his power on the
originally planned”
open market, he would lose
Mihajlo Nakomčić
the feed-in tariff agreed on for
twelve years. Furthermore, on
the recommendation of the Serbian
government, electricity prices for both
industries and consumers have been kept
low so far. Therefore, Mihajlo Nakomčić wants a consistent
market opening and greater legal certainty. He
hopes that both aspects will be achieved by entry into
the EU.
Author
Klaus Sieg
Freelance Journalist
Rothestr. 66 · 22655 Hamburg
00 49 171/6 39 42 62
klaus@siegtext.de
www.siegtext.de
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