By Trend

The current gas crisis has shown that the development of projects such as Southern Gas Corridor is of crucial importance for the supply of the entire continent, because relying on only one supplier is not enough to ensure the security of supply, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia and the Minister of Mining and Energy, Prof. Zorana Mihajlovic PhD said in an exclusive interview with Trend.

She noted that diversification of routes of natural gas supply contributes to ensuring energy security and security of supply of Europe with this energy source.

“Serbia's goal in the gas sector is to achieve energy security, which requires not only diversification of gas routes, but also the diversification of suppliers. At the beginning of the year, Serbia got an additional line of gas supply, but our goal is to have a diversification of sources and to connect with all our neighbors via gas interconnectors. The first interconnection we are building is Serbia-Bulgaria, i.e. the Nis-Dimitrovgrad gas pipeline, for which financing has been provided and contracts have been signed. The construction of the gas pipeline should start this year and the pipeline should become operational by 2023. The innterconnector will connect Serbia to the southern gas corridor, but also to some other sources of supply,” added Mihajlovic.

She pointed out that the Serbia-Bulgaria gas interconnection will provide Serbia with the possibility of getting natural gas from other suppliers, such as LNG terminals in Greece and TAP and TANAP gas pipelines, which are a part of the Southern Gas Corridor, which transports gas from the Caspian and Middle East regions.

The deputy PM noted that in the future, after the completion of the Eastern Mediterranean (EastMed) project, gas will also come from the coastal reserves of the Leviathan field, i.e. Cyprus and Israel, which is important for the energy security of Serbia and the region.

“Bulgaria is already being supplied with gas from Azerbaijan, and from the LNG terminal in Greece. We hope that, following that example, we will be able to diversify our routes of natural gas supply. In addition to contributing to the security of supply this should also certainly have a favorable effect on the leveling of gas prices on the Serbian market. The Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Azerbaijan have expressed readiness to sign the Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of Energy and Mining between the two Governments. The signing of the agreement will give a new impetus to further improve friendly and economic relations between the two countries, especially in the field of mining and energy. We expect that the Agreement will be signed during the visit of the delegation of the Republic of Serbia to Azerbaijan, when we will attend the 8th meeting of the Advisory Council of the Southern Gas Corridor,” she said.

Speaking of the RES sector, the deputy PM noted that this year, for the first time, Serbia passed an independent Law on the Use of RES, in order to accelerate investments in this sector and enable greater participation of RES in the energy mix.

“This law creates conditions for increasing investments in the use of RES, for active participation of citizens in the energy transition, and the use of new technologies that are important for energy transition and decarbonization, such as green hydrogen, whose commercial use is at the very beginning. We have also started drafting the most important strategic documents in the field of energy: the Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan of RS for the period until 2030 with projections until 2050 and the Strategy for Energy Development of RS for the period until 2040 with projections until 2050. In the field of RES, we will set a goal that by 2040 the share of renewable sources will be at least 40%, i.e. 50% by 2050,” said Mihajlovic.

She went on to add that investments in renewable energy sources, primarily in the construction of new hydro, wind and solar power plants, take an important place in the new investment plan in the field of energy and mining that have been prepared, which contains projects worth about 28 billion euros.

“Our international partners, international financial institutions and investors already recognize everything that Serbia has done to improve the legislative framework. I believe that the accelerated development of the RES sector will open new opportunities for the development of cooperation between Serbian and Azerbaijani companies, potential new investments and the implementation of joint projects,” Mihajlovic concluded.