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Serbia Moves to Ban Hydro Plants in National Parks After Outrage

Serbia Moves to Ban Hydro Plants in National Parks After Outrage

(Bloomberg) -- Serbia has vowed to end the building of small hydro plants in its national parks and other protected areas after protests by environmentalists and farmers.

Generous feed-in tariffs for renewables that the Balkan country offered to developers in order to catch up with developed economies led to a rush to build small hydro plants. A group of watchdogs warned last week that rivers across the western Balkans are drying up because their flow is diverted, leaving people without water while fueling graft.

Serbia is planning to reform its renewable energy support system, abolishing fixed incentives in favor of auctioned permits, Antic said.

“We remain interested in small as well as in large hydro plant projects, but within limits,” Energy and Mining Minister Aleksandar Antic told reporters in Belgrade Wednesday, adding that he backs an initiative by President Aleksandar Vucic to ban the construction of plants in protected areas.

To contact the reporter on this story: Misha Savic in Belgrade at msavic2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Irina Vilcu at isavu@bloomberg.net, Andras Gergely, James M. Gomez

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