Fortis Energy’s Nocaj project in Serbia has reached ready-to-build status, combining 270 MWp of solar capacity with 72 MWh of battery storage. Commercial operation is targeted for the second quarter of 2028. The project could support corporate power purchase agreements (PPAs) that deliver shaped supply profiles rather than simply volumes of solar generation, potentially reducing industrial buyers’ reliance on residual market purchases.
The battery can shift some midday solar generation into higher-value hours, reduce imbalances and exposure to negative-price hours, and smooth output ramps. It could also help match supply to an industrial buyer’s consumption pattern or evening load. However, it can shift only a fraction of the plant’s daily output. Nocaj will not be dispatchable in the same way as a thermal unit.
With fixed-volume or pay-as-produced PPAs, Serbian industrial buyers remain exposed to residual electricity purchases from the market. A shaped renewable product could reduce that exposure and potentially support stronger credit quality in the offtake structure. It could also give exporters access to more traceable low-carbon electricity without exposing them to the full intermittency of solar generation.
Other projects in Fortis Energy’s Serbian portfolio include Fortis Green, a separate 30 MWp solar project. Its commercial operation is targeted for the fourth quarter of 2027, before Nocaj’s planned start in 2028.
Storage allocation and PPA terms
Contracts would need to specify how storage is allocated between the buyer and merchant markets, how battery wear and degradation are treated, and who is responsible for balancing. They would also need to set out what happens during extended periods of low renewable generation. These provisions would determine how much battery flexibility is committed to the buyer and how much can be sold into merchant markets.
Storage could shift Serbian renewable PPAs from pay-as-produced energy toward shaped industrial supply. The strongest product would be transparent about the limits of storage-based shaping and monetise the flexibility premium, rather than present a solar-plus-storage plant as fully dispatchable.