Advantages of South-East Europe
Why Aliquantum has selected locations in South-Eastern Europe for its first projects is due to several factors.
Much potential, so far barely used
On the one hand, thanks to a mountainous topography, this region has an outstanding hydroelectric potential, which is still largely unused. Almost two-fifths of the economically viable hydropower potential is still unused even in the whole of Europe — even though hydroelectric power is the dominant source of renewable energy worldwide, there are still three-fifths in South-Eastern Europe (SOE). On the other hand, the region convinces by ideal conditions for the attractive niche market of small and medium-sized hydroelectric power plants: “While the still unused hydroelectric potential in South-Eastern Europe is almost as great as that of the EU-15, the potential for small-scale hydroelectric power plants in Serbia is still 90% undeveloped”, says Deutsche Bank’s analysis of hydropower in 2010 and describes a situation which, according to project experience, has not lost its relevance.
Economically viable potential
The fact that around 60 percent of the economically viable hydropower potential still awaits investors and that the region spent more than half a century on largely planned large-scale structures in the power supply now offers many interesting project possibilities, which are only isolated in the rest of Europe.
Politics is based on renewable energies
The policy is another dimension in which hydropower can score. For example, Serbia’s accession negotiations with the EU have strengthened the country’s policy of promoting renewable energies in the country. The Serbian government is planning to increase about 50 power plants to 750 plants by 2030 in the framework of the national energy strategy. This will benefit renewable energy projects Still today from feed-in contracts, which are known in Germany only from the past: electricity from hydropower is currently being remunerated in Serbia with around eleven cents; The state-guaranteed feed-in tariff of the EU accession country runs for twelve years. Here is a closer look at the remarkable data of the acquisition contract of the assets between Aliquantum and the state power utility in Serbia:
Approx. EUR 0.105 per kW / h,
Duration 12 years,
Billing in EUR,
Annual inflation adjustment
Share of developed hydroelectric power
%
in Europe
Hydropower Energy (Source: Deutsche Bank Research, „Wasserkraft in Europa“.)
%
in South-East-Europe
Solution for economically weak countries
Hydropower has a strong argument for countries with a weak economy, as to be found often in South-East Europe: Because it does not require any fossil primary energy, it relieves the energy bill of those countries, the safety of energy availability rises. Using Hydropower plants reduces the risk of eventual delivery interruptions, as known from natural gas, or price dictations as known to be used by OPEC to the surprise of all consumers.
Current cash flows
The latest amendment to the feed-in system this year has also introduced an ‘investor protection’ regime: future regulations can not make producers worse off during the contract period. For this reason, Aliquantum can also offer the attractive returns from a long-term, secure cash flow known from Germany in the past and, on the other hand, benefit from substantially lower investment costs compared to the saturated markets for hydropower, eg in the Alpine region.
Advantage network
Aliquantum has been building a project platform for the region since 2014. The company is therefore represented regionally with one of the leading project developers as well as with excellent political relations — right up to the government level. The experienced project manager of our Belgrade team was, for example, a member of the Government Commission on the recent amendment of the current feed-in system.