NIS has continued the implementation of the programme for the construction of solar power plants on its facilities, achieving significant financial and environmental effects. Thus, a solar photovoltaic power plant with a total power of 620 kWp was built in the Jazak Drinking Water Production Plant, which was put into operation in June this year. It is the first NIS power plant with higher power and also the first combined power plant consisting of three photovoltaic fields that are distributed on the ground and on the roof of the factory. The value of the project is more than half a million euros. In this way, Jazak factory will receive electricity in a more environmentally friendly manner – from the energy of the Sun.
The implementation of the project for the construction of a power plant in the Jazak Plant is part of a comprehensive program that NIS started two years ago with the construction of solar power plants at retail network facilities in Serbia. As part of the project of making petrol stations “greener”, by the end of 2023, NIS installed solar power plants at 45 retail facilities, which provided an average annual savings in the procurement of electricity of 1,600 MWh over the working life of 25 years, while the estimate is that a significant reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of as much as 1,700 tonnes will be achieved on average annually.
The electricity produced with the help of solar panels in the Jazak factory will be mostly used for the needs of the Plant itself, with the placement of occasional surpluses of electricity in the distribution electricity network, since the Plant has the status of a prosumer. With this investment, NIS confirms that it remains consistent with the “green direction” in business, which strengthens its energy efficiency and makes significant steps in the process of energy transition and business diversification. This approach implies greater investments in the production of electricity from renewable energy sources, in order to achieve the goals in the field of environmental protection and reduce the company’s carbon footprint.
NIS will continue to invest in green energy in the upcoming period, guided by the principles of sustainable development. Thus, in the next phase, there is a plan for the installation of solar panels at other petrol stations, as well as strategic facilities of the company, such as Pančevo Oil Refinery, business centres Belgrade and Novi Sad, as well as the petroleum product storage in Novi Sad, which is currently the largest project in this area in NIS. With the built capacity of 2 MWp at petrol stations and in the Jazak plant, the implementation of these four contracted projects will bring the total power of solar power plants to 10 MWp at the end of 2024 with an average annual production of 11,500 MWh, which will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 12,500 tonnes per year.
By diversifying its operations, NIS stepped into the field of energy in 2013 with the commissioning of small power plants on eight oil and gas fields with a total installed electricity capacity of 14 MW, in which about EUR 20 million was invested. In 2022, in cooperation with partners, NIS started the production of electricity in CCPP Pančevo. This is the first gas-fired power plant in Serbia with a combined gas-steam cycle, i.e. with natural gas as a fuel and the combined production of electricity and heat. The project is worth almost EUR 200 million, and the installed electrical power of the plant is 189 MW. NIS continues with the construction of solar power plants, and the current strategy envisages the construction of up to 40 MW of solar power plants by 2030. In order to meet its “green” goals, since 2009 NIS has invested more than EUR 900 million in the environmental projects and business initiatives that have had significant effects on the improvement of the environmental image in Serbia. The sum of more than EUR 130 million of that amount has been invested in exclusively “environmental” initiatives.
