Small hydropower plants and Stara Planina

Category: Land, water and workers

Period: from 2013

Outcome: No one investigated (as of 5 Nov 2024)

The Ministry of Energy, headed by Zorana Mihajlović, awarded investors 293 sites in 2013 for small hydropower plants, which divert rivers into pipes. According to CINS, the sites also went to companies in breach of the law, companies with hidden offshore owners and companies owned by officials. Citizens paid above-market prices for the electricity through their bills, and according to CINS, companies linked to Vučić's best man Nikola Petrović received around €23.4 million. Residents of Stara Planina defended their rivers for years, and the order to remove the pipes from the Rakita River has not been enforced. The outcomes of the criminal complaints are not known.

Handing out 293 sites

In 2013, through two public calls, the Ministry of Energy, then headed by Zorana Mihajlović, handed investors 293 sites for small diversion hydropower plants (SHPPs), which divert rivers into pipes. According to CINS, the sites also went to companies in trouble with the law, companies with hidden offshore owners and companies owned by officials.

Plants with privileged producer status received 12-year contracts at above-market prices, and the money was paid by citizens through their electricity bills.

Companies of Vučić's best man

Among the largest recipients were companies linked to Nikola Petrović, best man to Aleksandar Vučić and former director of Elektromreža Srbije, the state power transmission company: according to CINS, around €23.4 million over ten years. Petrović did not respond to CINS; in 2021 Vučić said his best man had obtained the permits for the hydropower plants from the previous government.

Wind farms and public procurement

In August 2020, Petrović allegedly obtained half of Crni vrh Power, a company that planned a wind farm near Žagubica, Bor and Majdanpek; by 2023 he had allegedly exited the ownership, and the company was taken over by Chinese firms. Since March 2023 he has allegedly also been a co-owner of Jasikovo, whose wind farm will sell electricity to EPS for 15 years.

After 2023, almost all of his small hydropower plants left the incentive scheme, while GBG snabdevanje, a company he allegedly co-owns, has since 2024 sold electricity to the state through public procurement worth about €6.3 million.

Rakita and the Zvonce plant

In the village of Rakita on Stara Planina, where the Zvonce small hydropower plant was being built from 2017, residents guarded the river for years. The investor sued the head of the local community, Desimir Stojanov, who won the case; police questioned him as the prime suspect over a planted bomb, and in July 2019, by his account, he was beaten by private security guards. Local resident Danijel Dimitrov says he was pelted with stones.

In January 2019 the Ministry of Environmental Protection ordered the pipe removed from the river, but the order had still not been enforced a year and a half later, so in August 2020 residents and activists broke open the pipe themselves.

Topli Do and the ban in protected areas

In Topli Do, residents guarded a barricade day and night; in a clash with the investor's security on 7 October 2019 there were injuries on both sides, and the investor gave up.

After protests and a meeting with Vučić, the 2021 Law on the Use of Renewable Energy Sources banned hydropower plants in protected areas, but not those already built or under construction.

Complaints and a permit with no outcome

The outcomes of the criminal complaints filed by RERI against the investor in Rakita and against the leadership of Pirot are not publicly known. Proceedings to annul the permit for the Zvonce small hydropower plant were still under way in November 2024.

Participants

Nikola Petrović: While he ran the state grid operator Elektromreža Srbije, firms linked to him received €7.2 million in incentives for small hydropower plants (responsible)
Zorana Mihajlović: As energy minister in 2013, she allocated 293 sites for small hydropower plants; because the checks were incomplete, companies that had fallen foul of the law also received sites (responsible)
Ministry of Mining and Energy of the Republic of Serbia: In 2013 it allocated 293 sites for small hydropower plants; because the checks were incomplete, companies with hidden offshore owners also received sites (responsible)
Eco Energo Group: Seven of its small hydropower plants, in which Petrović holds a stake, received state subsidies (responsible)
Zvonce Small Hydropower Plant d.o.o.: It kept laying pipes in the Rakitska river even after the ministry's final ban and an order to remove them from the riverbed (responsible)
Babušnica Municipality: On 11 October 2018 it issued an amended building permit for the “Zvonce” small hydropower plant, which the ministry moved to annul on its own initiative (responsible)
City of Pirot: According to a criminal complaint by RERI, in 2017 the mayor and the head of the city administration unlawfully gave the hydropower investor the right to run a pipeline through public property (responsible)
Ministry of Environmental Protection: It ordered the investor to remove the pipes from the Rakitska river, but a year and a half later it had still not enforced its own decision (responsible)
Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure: In 2022 it rejected an appeal against the operating permit for the “Zvonce” small hydropower plant and began proceedings to annul the Babušnica municipality's amended permit (commented on the case)
Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Serbia: Police mostly stood by and watched near-daily clashes between the investor's security guards and Rakita residents (responsible)
Aleksandar Vučić: Said in 2021 that his best man got his permits for mini hydropower plants from the Democratic Party government (commented on the case)
Aleksandar Antić: Announced that inspectors would go into the field in certain cases of hydropower plant construction (commented on the case)
Goran Trivan: Said in 2019 that small hydropower plants are harmful and announced a change to the law on protected areas (commented on the case)
Administrative Court: Ordered the ministry to decide the investor's appeal again and dismissed a lawsuit over the building permit (investigation and courts)
Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Pirot: The police notified it of the clash in Topli Do; RERI reportedly filed criminal complaints against the investor and Pirot's leaders (investigation and courts)
Renewables and Environmental Regulatory Institute (RERI): Reportedly filed criminal complaints against the investor in Rakita and Pirot's leaders; the court dismissed its lawsuit over the permit (oversight and the public)
CINS (Centre for Investigative Journalism of Serbia): Reported that sites were also awarded to companies in conflict with the law and to offshore owners, and on payments to firms linked to Petrović (oversight and the public)
KRIK: He wrote that in 2019 companies linked to Petrović received around €2.3 million for electricity from hydropower plants (oversight and the public)
Defend the Rivers of Stara Planina movement (ORSP): He called for construction to be halted and for power plants built in breach of the law to be demolished. In Rakita, local residents and activists broke open a pipe (oversight and the public)
Union of Local Communities of Stara Planina: On 7 September 2019 he declared a state of emergency on Stara Planina over the construction of mini hydropower plants (oversight and the public)
Aleksandar Jovanović Ćuta: He called the exemption for power plants already built unacceptable and claimed that Vesić had signed the operating permit (oversight and the public)