Chinese companies will invest 2 billion euro in an energy project in Serbia

On January 26, Serbia's Ministry of Mining and Energy signed a memorandum of understanding with Chinese companies Shanghai Fengling Renewables and Serbia Zijin Copper to invest two billion euros in the construction of a 1,500-megawatt wind power plant, a 500-megawatt solar power plant, and a production of hydrogen, "Free Europe" reported.
"The project includes the construction of a plant in the vicinity of the city of Bor with a total capacity of two gigawatts, i.e. a wind park with a capacity of 1,500 megawatts and a solar power plant with a capacity of 500 megawatts, as well as a plant for the production of green hydrogen with a capacity of about 30,000 tons per year," said Serbian Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Jedovic Handanivic.
The document was signed by the Government of Serbia with representatives of the two companies and in the presence of Chinese Ambassador to Serbia Li Ming.
As Handanivic stated, the signing of the memorandum is another step in Serbia's goals to decarbonize the energy sector and to switch to cleaner, renewable energy sources (RES).
The company Ziđin Koper, which at the end of 2018 took over the Bor Mining and Smelting Basin (SBM) in Bor, has repeatedly come under fire from environmentalists and local residents in eastern Serbia, who claim that the mine's operation affects on air pollution.
The citizens of Bor protested several times because of the high concentration of sulfur dioxide in the air, and the residents of the village of Krivel in eastern Serbia demanded that everyone move out because their life near the mine had become unbearable.
Ziđin Koper has repeatedly faced legal proceedings and accusations of environmental pollution in eastern Serbia.
The company has repeatedly stated that it works in accordance with "all laws and legal acts"./BGNES