South-East Europe - Croatia advances while neighbours struggle

SOUTH EAST EUROPE: Wind developers in the area share problems such as shortage of capital, complex permitting procedures and legislative obstacles. In Serbia, poor spatial planning is a major hurdle for location permits, while in Croatia the five-step permitting process is a cause of concern for prospective investors. Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia could see the first installed capacity come online in 2012.

Croatia

Croatia is the only country in the south-eastern Europe region with wind farms in operation, for a total capacity of 88.75MW. A handful of projects are at an advanced stage and should add around 210MW this year. German developer WPD should complete the 36.8MW Ponikve project in the autumn and Spanish-Austrian group RP Global is to commission the 43MW Danilo wind farm by September. Grid connection for India's Orient Green Power. The Tudic Elektrocentar 10.5MW Crno Brdo project is also expected soon, and Spain's Acciona Energy aims to start generating electricity from its 30MW Jelenak wind project by the end of this year.

Serbia

The Serbian government plans to increase its feed-in tariff for wind power from the current EUR0.095/kWh to boost renewables. A 30MW wind farm may be developed on the site of the Kostolac coal mining and power-generation complex by a local utility company. Italian-Serbian MK-Fintel Wind is developing four projects for a total 270MW to go online late this year or early 2013.

Montenegro

In Montenegro, Spain's Fersa Energias Renovables aims to complete the 46MW Mozura wind farm this year, while Austria's Ivicom Consulting and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries should receive a permit for the 50MW Krnovo project this year and complete work in 2013.

Macedonia and Bosnia & Herzegovina

Macedonian utility Elem is developing a 50MW wind farm at Bogdanci, with 37MW to be installed in the first two-year phase. In Bosnia, Elektroprivreda BiH plans to start construction on the 46MW Podvelezje project this year.