The fabrication sector’s hidden risk: How rising electricity prices threaten Serbia’s biggest export engine

Fabrication is widely recognised as one of Serbia’s most dynamic export engines, yet its vulnerability to rising electricity costs is often underestimated. Welded assemblies, steel frames, CNC-machined parts, pipe systems, pressure components and large industrial modules form the backbone of Serbia’s industrial supply chain. These products are shipped daily to Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and […]

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Metallurgy under pressure: Why green hydrogen, not scrap prices, will determine competitiveness by 2030

The global steel and metallurgy industries have long viewed scrap availability and commodity pricing as the primary indicators of competitiveness. But the next decade marks a structural pivot. For metallurgy in Serbia, the decisive factors will no longer be scrap quality or input metal costs—they will be electricity pricing, green hydrogen access and carbon compliance

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The €/MWh pathway to €10bn exports: How Serbia’s fabrication, electronics and machinery clusters depend on stable industrial energy

Serbia’s industrial expansion toward 2030 increasingly reflects a simple equation: export growth follows the €/MWh curve. If electricity prices remain stable and competitive, Serbia’s fabrication, electronics and machinery sectors could collectively add more than €10bn to annual exports. If electricity costs rise unpredictably or decarbonisation efforts lag, these sectors may lose momentum precisely when EU

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Cheap labour no longer wins — cheap green electricity does: Why Serbia’s next competitive advantage depends on RES-based industrial zones

For decades, Serbia—and much of Eastern Europe—relied on competitive labour costs as the primary attractor of foreign direct investment. Manufacturing firms came for affordability, engineering talent and geographic proximity. But the global industrial model has shifted. Labour cost is no longer the primary differentiator. Today, the decisive factor shaping investment flows, export competitiveness and nearshoring

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Can Serbia remain Europe’s nearshore manufacturing base as energy costs rise? A competitive-index review for 2026–2030

Serbia’s nearshoring momentum over the last decade was built on a combination of geographic proximity, engineering talent, competitive labour costs and an industrial base capable of supplying Europe within 48 hours. But as Europe enters a phase of energy-driven industrial transformation, Serbia’s position as a preferred manufacturing platform is being tested by rising electricity costs,

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Serbia’s industrial future will be priced in megawatt-hours: How electricity costs decide which sectors grow and which collapse by 2030

Serbia’s industrial trajectory toward 2030 will be determined not by labour costs, factory automation levels or investor incentives alone, but increasingly by the cost, stability and carbon profile of electricity. As Europe restructures its entire supply chain architecture around green transition rules, CBAM obligations and resilience requirements, Serbia’s manufacturing map is being redrawn in megawatt-hours.

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Regional power-flow shifts after the Pljevlja shutdown: Montenegro in a rewired Balkan energy landscape

The shutdown of Pljevlja transforms Montenegro’s internal energy balance, but its implications extend beyond national borders. In the interconnected Balkan power system, every addition or removal of a major unit reshapes flows, congestion points, trade patterns and price correlations. Montenegro’s transition to a predominantly hydro-wind profile introduces a new dynamic into a region already balancing

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Private wind producers in Montenegro: From peripheral players to system-defining actors

Montenegro’s power system is undergoing a quiet reordering of influence. Where state hydro once dominated unchallenged and Pljevlja provided the stable backbone, private wind producers are emerging as system-defining actors. They are reshaping generation patterns, altering the economics of supply, influencing price formation and pushing Montenegro into deeper integration with regional markets. The first generation

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Balancing costs in Montenegro’s post-coal power system

As Montenegro steps into a future without Pljevlja’s coal-fired stability, the cost of balancing becomes the defining economic metric of its power system. Balancing is never a simple technicality; it is the financial manifestation of volatility. When wind ramps up quickly or collapses within minutes, when hydrology restrains reservoir operations, when cross-border flows tighten and

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Montenegro’s power future: Transitioning from coal at Pljevlja to wind, hydro and import options

Montenegro finds itself at a key inflection point. The only coal-fired thermal power plant in the country, Yugoslav Thermal Power Plant Pljevlja (TPP Pljevlja), with an installed capacity of about 225 MW, has for decades been the backbone of domestic generation and is now scheduled for gradual shutdown. (OECD) Its decommissioning raises fundamental questions about

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