Fortis Energy and İnelso Energy Systems have agreed to invest €25.5 million in a 30 MWp solar-plus-storage project in Vojvodina, as Serbia’s renewable-energy market develops financing models combining contracted and merchant electricity revenues. Located about 33 km from Belgrade, the project has reached ready-to-build status and is expected to obtain its construction permit shortly. Annual generation is projected to exceed 40 GWh. Turkish company Enkraft Energy will assume full engineering, procurement and construction responsibility, making the project its first Serbian development.
Hybrid electricity sales model
The project will combine long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) with exposure to merchant electricity markets. Battery storage will allow electricity generation to be shifted toward periods with higher market value, while contracted sales are intended to provide greater revenue visibility. The structure combines contracted cash flows with participation in market prices. It also places storage at the centre of the project’s electricity-revenue model. As solar generation expands, high-output periods can coincide with lower electricity prices. Battery capacity provides an additional mechanism for managing the timing of electricity sales.
Storage becomes part of renewable project design
The project structure reflects a shift in Serbia’s renewable market from development based primarily on permits, grid connections and project pipelines toward financing, balancing and revenue-management considerations. Battery storage can allow solar projects to modify their production profiles and participate in balancing and other flexibility markets where regulations permit.
For project finance, the combination of contracted revenues and merchant-market exposure provides a structure in which long-term offtake arrangements coexist with market participation. The project also adds Enkraft Energy to Serbia’s renewable-energy supply chain through its EPC role, expanding the participation of Turkish companies in the country’s solar, electrical equipment and infrastructure segments.
Drenik plans RSD 4.68 billion bond issue
Serbian tissue and hygiene-products manufacturer Drenik ND is preparing a RSD 4.68 billion corporate bond issue, equivalent to roughly €40 million. The five-year securities will carry a fixed annual coupon of 9.5%, with interest paid annually and the principal repaid at maturity. The offering comprises 390,000 bonds, each with a nominal value of RSD 12,000. Drenik plans to use the proceeds primarily to refinance short-term bank liabilities and extend the maturity profile of its debt.
Corporate debt market expands
The transaction provides Drenik with longer-term funding through Serbia’s domestic capital market, alongside traditional bank financing. Corporate bonds have historically represented a limited financing channel in Serbia because of low secondary-market liquidity, a relatively narrow institutional investor base and the administrative costs associated with securities issuance.
Other Serbian companies, including Elixir Group, Beton Plus and Kodar Energomontaža, have recently issued bonds, expanding the range of corporate borrowers using the domestic market. Drenik’s transaction adds a major industrial company to that group.
Fixed dinar funding changes debt structure
The 9.5% fixed dinar coupon establishes a market reference for five-year local-currency corporate financing. For Drenik, borrowing in dinars removes foreign-exchange exposure while replacing shorter-term liabilities with longer-term debt carrying predictable financing costs. The bond structure also includes an investor put option after two years, giving bondholders an additional mechanism for exiting the investment before maturity.
The transaction can provide an alternative to bank financing for industrial companies seeking to align debt maturities more closely with longer-lived assets. A broader domestic corporate-bond market would also create additional fixed-income instruments for pension funds, insurers and other institutional investors seeking dinar-denominated assets.
Liquidity remains a key market factor
Further development of Serbia’s corporate debt market depends on transparent financial reporting, recurring issuance and the availability of a functioning secondary market. The increasing number of corporate bond transactions is expanding the range of financing instruments available to Serbian companies alongside commercial bank credit.
