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July 11, 2025
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INA, E.ON sign power purchase agreement in Croatia

Croatian oil and gas company INA and German energy giant E.ON’s subsidiary in the Southeastern European country have signed a power purchase agreement for electricity from renewable sources.

The power purchase agreement (PPA) will enable INA, majority-owned by Hungarian MOL, to use energy from its own power plants, even from remote locations where the produced electricity or surplus is fed into the grid, the companies said.

The electricity purchase covers three cogeneration plants and 18 photovoltaic plants with a total annual production of 20 GWh. INA’s largest solar power units, Virje and Sisak, have a combined capacity of about 13 MW.

The companies said it is a 2-in-1 solution – supply and purchase of electricity, creating a long-term sustainable energy system and allowing energy produced at one location to be used at another.

E.ON Croatia said it is connecting production and consumption into one efficient, closed energy system

With the partnership, the two firms are connecting production and consumption into one efficient, closed energy system, said E.ON Croatia.

It marks a new phase of cooperation, focused on developing a smarter, more flexible energy system, sustainable in the long term, according to the German energy giant’s subsidiary.

Ivica Kuliš, manager of the energy retail division of E.ON Croatia, said the utility is proud to become INA’s key partner in its electrification efforts, not only through supply but also by purchasing electricity. It directly enables flexible, locally produced energy to be available where it is needed most, he added.

Sokolović: INA is laying the foundation for long-term energy independence and decarbonization

By investing in its own production and using the PPA model, INA is laying the foundation for long-term energy independence and the decarbonization of its operations, said Dalibor Sokolović, head of the company’s department for new and sustainable businesses.

Such solutions enable more flexible and responsible resource management, Sokolović added.

Of note, according to an earlier analysis by Pexapark, the European PPA market entered an adjustment chapter last year, characterized by record deal-making for smaller volumes. Namely, the firm’s tracker registered a decrease of around 11% in total disclosed contracted volumes vis-à-vis 2023, to 15.2 GW.

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July 11, 2025
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Solar beats nuclear in June, becoming EU’s biggest electricity source for first time

Solar became the EU’s largest source of electricity for the first time in June 2025. National records for both photovoltaics and wind rolled in in May and June, pushing coal to an all-time low.

Solar was the largest source of electricity in the European Union for the first time last month, with multiple countries producing record amounts of solar power, Ember found. Wind power achieved the highest ever generation for the months of May and June, the think tank said.

Solar power generated 22.1% of EU electricity (45.4 TWh) in June, more than any other power source. It was a year-over-year increase of 22%. In second place was nuclear, with 21.8% (44.7 TWh), followed by wind, with 15.8% (32.4 TWh).

The big opportunity now comes from adding battery storage and flexibility to extend the use of renewable power into mornings and evenings, where fossil fuels still set high power prices, according to Ember’s Senior Energy analyst Chris Rosslowe.

At least thirteen EU countries set monthly solar records

At least thirteen countries recorded their highest-ever month of solar generation, amid an ongoing surge in photovoltaic installations. Among them were Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Slovenia and Romania, all the EU countries in the region that Balkan Green Energy News is focused on except Cyprus, for which there was no data for June.

Wind power reached an all-time high shares of 16.6% (33.7 TWh) and 15.8% (32.4 TWh) in May and June, respectively

Strong photovoltaic output helped the power system to handle higher levels of demand resulting from heatwaves that gripped the continent towards the end of the month, according to the report.

Wind farms generated 16.6% (33.7 TWh) and 15.8% (32.4 TWh) of EU electricity in May and June, respectively. It was an all-time high for both months. Notably, at the start of the year, wind conditions were relatively poor. They improved, and they were the main driver, though capacity has been continuously growing over the past year. Several large offshore wind farms were commissioned.

Coal falls to record low

As a result of high renewables generation in June, coal had the lowest-ever share of EU electricity. Total fossil generation was also low, but it grew in the entire first half of the year on an annual basis.

Coal generated just 6.1% (12.6 TWh) of EU electricity in June, down from the 8.8% registered in the same month of last year.

The two countries that account for the vast majority of EU coal power (79% in June) both saw record lows in June. Namely, Germany generated just 12.4% (4.8 TWh) of its power from coal, and Poland 42.9% (5.1 TWh). Four other countries recorded their lowest-ever month of coal generation in June: Czechia (17.9%), Bulgaria (16.7%), Denmark (3.3%) and Spain (0.6%), which is approaching its coal phaseout.

Fossil fuels generated 23.6% (48.5 TWh) of EU electricity in June, just above the record low of 22.9% in May 2024. Nevertheless, fossil generation in the first half of 2025 was 13% higher (by 45.7 TWh) than in the first half of 2024, mainly due to a jump in gas generation by 19% or 35.5 TWh. Lower hydropower (due to drought) and wind generation than last year, and increasing demand marked the period.

Electricity demand continued on an upward trajectory. In the first half of 2025, the EU consumed 1.31 PWh of electricity or 2.2% more than in the same period of last year.

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July 11, 2025
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Director Christian Zinglersen is leaving ACER

The European Union Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) needs to appoint a new director as Christian Pilgaard Zinglersen is becoming deputy secretary general of the European Investment Bank (EIB) Group.

ACER’s current chief is leaving in the autumn. Outgoing Director Christian Pilgaard Zinglersen says he is carrying on his duties until then under a business-as-usual approach. His leadership spanned a defining period of intense, significant turmoil and pressures on EU energy markets, policy and regulation, ACER pointed out.

EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators underwent an organisational reset, doubled its human and tripled its financial resources, reflecting the increasing number of tasks from EU co-legislators and the European Commission, according to the update.

Zinglersen has served for the past five and a half years. His initial five-year mandate was renewed at the end of 2024.

Zinglersen served for five and a half years

It’s been an honour to lead ACER as its only second director after Alberto Pototschnig, who, alongside the other pioneers, built the agency from scratch, Zinglersen stressed.,

“Let’s not sugarcoat it: It has been a challenging, yet also exciting time for more or less everything ACER has had its hands on over these last five-and-a-half years. With the EU going from demand shock to supply shock to … (well, let’s see what the next shock is); with our energy system facing new demands, whether induced by rapid technological or systemic change; with geopolitics rearing its often-ugly head, most significantly via Russia’s aggressive war waged on Ukraine. Never a dull moment, they say,” he wrote.

At ACER, everybody is somebody, and it remains the benchmark, Zinglersen underscored. He praised collegiality, inclusiveness and the “low on hierarchy, high on impact” approaches.

Zinglersen was one of the keynote speakers at this year’s edition of Belgrade Energy Forum, organized by Balkan Green Energy News.

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July 11, 2025
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Cyprus curtails as much renewable electricity in first half of 2025 as whole last year

According to data compiled by the CyprusGrid tracking platform, the island country curtailed more than 167 GWh of renewable electricity in the first six months of 2025. It was equivalent to last year’s entire cuts. On average, two thirds of the potential green energy production was lost per day in March.

In addition to being the only European Union member state without an interconnection with another power system, Cyprus only has oil-fired generators, a surging solar power capacity, wind parks and some biomass-fired facilities. Other countries, like Greece, also must curtail renewable electricity units, but maintaining system stability requires more drastic cuts in the isolated island nation. Notably, it still lacks energy storage, while the conventional power plants lack flexibility.

According to a statistical report from a few months ago, Cyprus hosted almost 850 MW of solar power, of which less than 400 MW was in commercial photovoltaic plants. Prosumers operated the rest. Licensed projects amounted to 2.8 GW. Wind power amounts to 155 MW.

Rapid growth of solar power capacity brings more episodes of overloads, when grid operators have to curtail photovoltaic and wind power production. At the same time, sudden weather changes can push production to a critically low level, which can also cause outages before conventional facilities step in to cover the deficit.

Curtailments to double this year

Founder of the CyprusGrid tracking platform Andreas Procopiou said on LinkedIn that more than 167 GWh of renewable energy was curtailed in the first half of the year. It’s how much was lost whole last year, he pointed out.

The conventional power plants in Cyprus aren’t able to lower or boost production fast enough to balance the changes in renewables

The cuts will almost certainly exceed 300 GWh in 2025, doubling the all-time high in just one year, Procopiou estimated. The average monthly growth rate has actually more than doubled from 2024, according to the developer of the electricity generation tracker.

Cuts boost emission costs by EUR 8 million

Curtailments erased 20.8 GWh in June alone. The daily average was 29.3% of total renewables output. It compares to May’s 33.9 GWh and 50.3%, respectively, after 37.9 GWh and 61.4% in April. March was the worst, with 38.2 GWh lost, or a whopping 67.9% of potential production, CyprusGrid data shows.

“Solar energy that could reduce costs and pollutants ends up being lost. For 2025 alone, the cuts already amount to more than 100,000 tons of additional CO₂ emissions and an additional burden of around EUR 8 million for emission allowances. A cost that we all ultimately pay,” Procopiou stressed.

Without storage, flexibility and serious planning, the energy transition remains just an empty slogan, the renewable energy expert pointed out.

Nevertheless, French giant TotalEnergies isn’t intimidated by the curtailments. It won the environmental approval a month ago for a photovoltaic park of 100 MW in peak capacity. But the company is planning to include energy storage.

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July 10, 2025
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Romania ends double taxation of energy storage

The National Energy Regulatory Authority of Romania has approved a regulation eliminating double taxation of energy storage, to allow for faster deployment of solutions for storing electricity.

The National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE) announced that it has approved an order on methodological norms exempting electricity that is stored and reintroduced into the grid from the payment of regulated tariffs.

The main goal is to eliminate double taxation of stored energy, as it was a significant obstacle to the development of storage technologies, essential for balancing the energy system and integrating production from renewable sources, ANRE said.

The regulation introduces three changes. It abolishes the extraction tariff – one of the two components of the transmission tariff – as well as the distribution tariff and system services tariff.

The decision introduces three novelties

The second novelty is the exemption from paying green certificates, and the last one is a unified procedure, applicable to both concessionaire and non-concessionaire operators.

The exemption applies strictly to energy stored and reintroduced into the grid, while for the storage facility’s consumption, including technological losses, grid tariffs remain applicable, ANRE stressed.

“We cannot build a balanced and resilient energy system with rules that penalize innovation. Through this regulation, we send a clear signal to investors: Romania supports energy storage, not just as a technological option, but as a pillar of the energy transition,” said George Niculescu, ANRE President.

The regulation is aligned with ACER recommendations

According to ANRE, the regulation is aligned with European best practices and ACER recommendations, which encourage differentiated tariff treatments and incentives for network flexibility.

The ANRE decision follows the amendments introduced by Government Emergency Ordinance (GEO) 134/2024 in November 2024.

A few days ago, Romanian engineering and technology company Simtel said the current total battery energy storage capacity in Romania is 398.8 MWh.

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July 10, 2025
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Serbia’s power demand soars 20%

Electricity consumption in Serbia has increased by 15% to 20% over the past three weeks compared to the same period last year, according to Dragan Rakić, the head dispatcher of Serbia’s transmission system operator Elektromreža Srbije.

The main reason for the rise in electricity consumption is the increased use of air conditioning units due to the heat wave, which began as early as mid-June this summer.

Dragan Rakić, the head dispatcher of TSO Elektromreža Srbije (EMS), told public broadcaster RTS that the system remains stable despite high temperatures and the reduction of electricity production in hydropower plants.

The record high for summer electricity consumption was set on July 17 last year

Daily consumption in recent days has been 92 GWh to 95 GWh, with the peak of 98.5 GWh reached on June 26. Rakić recalled that the all-time summer consumption record was 105.8 GWh on July 17 last year.

The highest consumption occurs in major cities such as Belgrade, Novi Sad, and Niš. Air conditioners are on even at night, both at home and at work, he added.

Rakić stressed that the electricity supply situation is stable, although hydrological conditions are negatively affecting electricity production in hydropower plants, and partially coal-fired power plants, which require water for cooling.

He added that much of Europe was affected by the dry spell.

EMS is also prepared for extreme weather events

Meanwhile, European think tank Ember noted that record solar power production, backed by energy storage capacity, helped maintain the stability of the electricity system in Europe during the latest heatwave.

Temperatures across Europe jumped to more than 40 degrees Celsius, triggering an increase in electricity demand as the use of air conditioners soared. Daily electricity demand on July 1 was up to 6% higher in Germany, 9% in France, and 14% in Spain than on June 24.

Rakić claimed EMS is ready for extreme weather conditions as well as other emergencies. The company has emergency power line towers and crews on standby when a red weather alert is issued, he explained.

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