Serbia’s renewable generators are increasingly exposed to hourly electricity prices and the risk that output is sold during lower-value hours. Industrial users still face expensive evening periods, according to the source material. SEEPEX recorded Serbia’s first negative day-ahead power price in May 2026, reflecting a changing price environment for both generation and consumption. Solar-plus-storage is described as a way to shift some renewable output toward factory demand and hours when grid electricity costs more.
Nocaj project: solar capacity and battery storage
The Nocaj project is presented as an example of that approach, with 270 MWp of solar capacity and 72 MWh of storage. The battery is described as not large enough to make the solar plant fully firm. It can improve output shaping and reduce imbalance under a bilateral supply arrangement. The source material states that these functions could make renewable electricity more usable and predictable for industrial customers.
CBAM period from 2026 and implications for industrial electricity procurement
The European Union’s definitive Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) period began in 2026, increasing the relevance of carbon costs for covered exporters. The source material says Serbian steel, aluminium and cement producers may benefit commercially from cleaner, more manageable electricity procurement. It also notes that storage can help align renewable supply with factory consumption and reduce purchases from the high-carbon grid in selected hours. However, storage is described as not itself reducing embedded emissions or providing a CBAM exemption.
How storage affects reporting depends on methodology and evidence
For exporters, the source material adds that the potential business case includes less exposure to volatile market purchases and better use of renewable output. It states that a battery can help control when renewable power is consumed and support a more orderly electricity evidence package for carbon reporting. At the same time, it says a battery cannot on its own determine how electricity is treated under CBAM. Instead, it points to documentation requirements tied to compliance.
The compliance relevance of storage depends on the applicable CBAM methodology and the evidence chain rather than battery ownership or capacity alone. Metering, contractual allocation, guarantees of origin where relevant, and verifiable electricity consumption records are described as necessary to support claims about electricity use. The same requirements are said to determine whether Nocaj’s output can support a particular CBAM electricity claim. The source material also states that storage can strengthen energy management without replacing underlying emissions rules.
In this framing, the value of storage for CBAM reporting rests on documented electricity evidence and the applicable methodology, even where it improves the timing of renewable supply.