MET Renewables AG and Gazprom Neft-owned NIS established a joint venture after MET acquired from third party a 50% share in a Serbian wind farm project. This will be the first wind project for both NIS and MET, and also the first renewable energy investment of Swiss MET Group outside the EU. The 102 MW wind park will consist of 34 wind turbines and will be built next to the Serbian municipality of Plandište.
MET Renewables AG (owned 100% by Switzerland-based MET Group) was officially registered as a shareholder on 19 March 2019. Wind Park Plandište will be operated in a joint structure, each firm holding a 50% stake in a company called NIS–MET Energowind.
The 102 MW wind park, located next to the Serbian municipality of Plandište, in the province of Vojvodina, will supply power equivalent to the consumption of around 85,000 households. The construction of WF Plandište will start in 2019, so it is expected to have fully operational wind farm in 2021.
MET Group CEO, Benjamin Lakatos, commented on the transaction: “I am excited about our cooperation with NIS, and I am convinced that our employees will deliver the project. As a European energy company, MET focuses on building a diversified energy portfolio, in which renewables play a key role. This joint venture is also a great stepping stone for MET to build a more significant presence on the Serbian energy market.”
The construction of Wind Park Plandište strengthens MET Group’s renewable energy strategy. The company aims to establish a renewable energy production portfolio of several hundreds of megawatts in Central and Eastern Europe, including both solar and wind projects.
NIS CEO, Kirill Tyurdenev, said: “The delivery of large energy projects is one of the key objectives of the NIS Development Strategy by 2025. The completion of these projects, with Plandište Wind Farm playing an important role, will contribute to NIS and its partners becoming a major player in the Serbian electricity market. Concurrently, the renewable electricity generation will enable Serbia to fulfil its international obligations in this area and improve the country’s ecological footprint. We are honoured to implement the project with our partners from MET Group and we strongly believe that this joint project will create new values for our shareholders.”
About MET Group
MET Group is a European energy company, headquartered in Switzerland, with activities in natural gas, power and oil markets. MET is present in 15 countries through subsidiaries, 28 national gas markets and 22 international trading hubs. The Group is 100% owned by its managers and employees. The company’s workforce of over 1,700 employees currently comprises a total of 32 nationalities.
About NIS
NIS Group is one of the largest vertically integrated energy companies in Southeast Europe, employing a staff of around 11,000. It is engaged in the exploration, production and refining of crude oil and natural gas, the sale and distribution of a broad range of petroleum and gas products, as well as the implementation of energy and petrochemical projects. NIS’ main production facilities are located in the Republic of Serbia, while subsidiaries and representative offices have been established in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Romania, Russia and Croatia. Russian company Gazprom Neft owns 56.15 % of NIS shares, while 29.87 % of the shares are held by the Republic of Serbia. The remaining portion is owned by citizens, employees, former employees and other minor shareholders.