ThinkGeoEnergy – Geothermal Energy News

New cooperation agreement signed for geothermal development in Serbia

Serbian company NIS and geothermal development firm Betec, with Chinese and Icelandic partners, have signed a cooperation agreement on geothermal development in Serbia.

NIS a Serbian energy company and Betec a geothermal development firm in Belgrade have signed a Co-Operation Agreement on developing Geothermal energy in Serbia, as announced by the partners today. 

 The companies will jointly develop geothermal active areas in northern Serbia by drilling new production wells and building power plants based on the well head power plant technology.  The drilling works are planned to begin in 2017 and the first power plant is planned to be commissioned within a year later.  The projects will also include combined heat and power plants.

NIS is one of the largest vertically integrated energy companies in Southeast Europe whose principal activities are exploration, production and refining, sales and distribution of a broad range of petroleum products, as well as the implementation of energy projects. In Serbia, NIS owns a refining compound, with two units, one in Pancevo and the other in Novi Sad, an LPG production unit, as well as a network of petrol stations in Serbia and the neighboring countries. In accordance with the long term Strategy providing for the expansion of business outside Serbia, NIS has expanded its business operations to the regional markets: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. NIS implements a large number of projects in the fields of electricity generation and geothermal energy.

Betec is a geothermal development company that has recently been acquired by KS Orka Renewables Pte Ltd of Singapore (KS ORKA).  KS ORKA is a joint venture between Zhejiang Kaishan Compressor Co Ltd (Kaishan), which is listed on the Shenzhen stock exchange, and Hugar Orka ehf, an Icelandic company.  KS Orka combines Kaishan’s power plant technology with Icelandic  geothermal and project development expertise to form a leading geothermal and waste energy company.  KS Orka brings to the venture some of the most experienced geothermal experts and power project developers in the world.    

Mr Kirill Kravchenko, NIS´s CEO, said, “NIS aims to lead the growth of renewable energy in Serbia.  For years, we develop a large number of energy efficiency projects, especially projects of cogeneration – electricity produced from gas. In cooperation with our partners, we will further develop our projects in the exploitation of geothermal resources and contribute to increasing of production of energy from renewable resources, and also contribute to energy independence of Serbia.”

Mr Kevin Cao, Kaishan’s CEO, noted, “KS Orka aims to be the leading global developer and operator of geothermal projects. KS Orka has prioritised investments in emerging economies and is targeting development of 500MW of power generation capacity over the next five years.  The Co-Operation with NIS in Serbia is an important step towards achieving this goal in the Balkans.”

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