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Serbia, officially the Republic of Serbia, is a landlocked country in the west-central Balkans and the Pannonian Plain. For most of the 20^th century, Serbia was part of Yugoslavia. It borders Hungary to the north, Romania to the northeast, Bulgaria to the southeast, North Macedonia to the south, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina to the west, and Montenegro to the southwest. In addition, to the southwest, the country also borders Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in February 2008, but the latter has not recognized it and the republic's status remains disputed.
According to 2023 statistics, Serbia, which ranks 117^th in the world in terms of the size of its territory, is home to around 6,5 million people. In terms of population density, the country occupies the 94^th place in the world. Serbia is a parliamentary republic and a European Union membership candidate country since 2012. The country is divided into 117 municipalities and 28 cities. The capital and the largest city is Belgrade, the official language is Serbian [1,2,3].

Source: [1,2,3,4,5]

Serbia has minor reserves of crude oil and gas, which represent 0.005% and 0.023% of world total reserves, respectively. Coal reserves are more significant and amount to 0.71% of the world reserves. According to estimates, Serbia has fairly large reserves of oil shale, but this energy resource is underdeveloped.
In terms of tons of oil equivalent, according to 2024 data, conventional proved reserves by fuel type were dominated by coal – 99%,  natural gas – 0.8%, and oil – 0.2% (Fig.5).

  Table 1. Fossil energy resources of Serbia

* share of the country’s reserves in world total is provided in brackets

The renewable resource matrix of Serbia shows no exceptional or extreme values. The fact that the country has several big rivers, including the Danube, Sava and Tisa, and an abundance of mountain rivers makes it an ideal environment for hydropower development. Although there is still a lot of unused hydropower potential in Serbia, hydropower already provides about 30% of the country's electricity demand.

 Table 2.Renewable energy resources of Serbia

*for the majority of the territory of the country
**technically exploitable capability

Serbia has significant potential for renewable energy production, both solar PV and wind power. The highest solar GHI intensity reaches 4.1 kWh/m² per day and distributed in the southern part of the country. In the eastern part of country, mainly in the mountain areas, the wind speed is over 6.0 m/s at 50 m.

NOVI SAD RIMSKI SANCEVI, SERBIA
Latitiude: 45.33, Longitude: 19.85
Average speed: 2.33 m/s, Operational share: 35%

Average daily wind speed for 10 years of observations, m/s, 10 m above the ground

Source: based on NOAA U.S. Department of Commerce
Detailed information: Interactive map of wind resources

NOVI SAD RIMSKI SANCEVI, SERBIA
Latitiude: 45.33, Longitude: 19.85

Average daily sky coverage over 10 years of observations, %

CLR - clear, SCT - scattered from 1/8 TO 4/8, BKN - broken from 5/8 TO 7/8, OVC - overcast, OBS - obscured, POB - partial obscuration

Source: based on NOAA U.S. Department of Commerce
Detailed information: Interactive map of solar resources

The total area of agricultural land and forests is relatively large, which means that there is enough feedstock for the development of bioenergy.

According to [6], in 2022 in Serbia, the total production of primary energy was 0.32 quadrillion Btu, while consumption was at the level of 0.593 quadrillion Btu. Thus, the share of domestic production in primary energy consumption was about 54%. This makes Serbia a country dependent on energy imports.
According to the National energy statistics [13], in 2020 energy available for final consumption is dominated by oil derivatives (32.8%), followed by electricity (25.2%), wood fuels (16.4%), natural gas (11.6%), heat (7.88%), coal and coal products (5.85%), biogas (0.18%), and geothermal energy (0.05%).

In 2022 Serbia's national electricity generation came nearly 68% from fossil fuels, mainly coal, about 28% from hydropower, and a small percentage – from wind and solar. Serbia is fully self-sufficient in electricity and exports some of the domestically produced electricity. Over the 10 years presented in the chart above, the amount of electricity produced and consumed in the country has remained approximately at the same level.

The main infrastructural objects of the fossil fuel sector in Serbia are shown in the map below. The extraction of crude and oil gas is concentrated in the south north-east of the country. The Velebit field in the south of the country is the most important oil deposit in Serbia.
Coal is mined in Serbia mainly in the center of the country, where Kolubara and Kostolac are the two main lignite deposits. The Kolubara mine produces about 75% of Serbia's lignite, another 25% is supplied by Kostolac coal basin.

Figure 5. Basic infrastructural facilities of the fossil fuel sector in Serbia

The fossil fuel industry includes not only the exploration and production of coal, oil and natural gas, but also their processing into refined products. The infrastructure includes 2 oil refineries in Pancevo and Novi Sad, as well as a natural gas processing plant in Elemir.

Figure 6. Electricity production in Serbia

Coal is the largest source of electricity in the country. More than 68% of electricity is generated from coal used in thermal power plants, the main of which are Kolubara, TPP Nikola Tesla and TPP Morava, which are supplied by Kolubara mines. Another important TPP in the country is Kostolac, the coal for the supply of which is mined in the Kostolac basin.

According to Elektroprivreda Srbije [14], Serbia has 16 hydropower plants with a total installed capacity of 3,015 MW. Electricity is generated by the Djerdap HPP branch, the Kladovska and Drinsko-Limsko HPP branch, and Baina Bašta. The total capacity of 28 units of the Jerdap HPPs branch is 1,605 MW. Nine hydropower plants within the Drinsko-Lim HPP branch on the Drina and Lim rivers have a total installed capacity of 1,390 MW.

 Figure 7. Renewable energy in Serbia

According to the 2022 ANNUAL REPORT by Serbian Energy Agency, share of wind power plants connected to the transmission system amounts to 4.4% with the installed capacity of 373 MW. The majoriry of wind farms are located in the north-eastern part of Serbia. The solar energy sector in Serbia is still at a relatively early stage, and the total installed capacity of solar power plants for 2022 was 13 MW. The country also operates a number of biomass and biogas power plants [15].
Serbia plans to drastically reduce the use of fossil fuels, primarily coal, and switch to efficient and renewable energy sources. The Comprehensive National Energy and Climate Plan of the Republic of Serbia [16] envisages that in 2030 the share of renewables in gross final energy consumption should be at least 33%. Additionally, the share of renewable energy sources in the gross final consumption of electricity should be at least 45.2% and in the transportation sector – 7%.

[1] List of sovereign states and dependencies by area / Wikipedia / en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_and_dependencies_by_area
[2] List of countries and dependencies by population density / Wikipedia / en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependencies_by_population_density
[3] Serbia / The world factbook / Library / Central Intelligence Agency / www.cia.gov
[4] GDP, PPP (constant 2011 international $) / World Bank, International Comparison Program database. License: CC BY-4.0 / Data / The World Bank / www.worldbank.org
[5] GDP per capita, PPP (current international $) / World Bank, International Comparison Program database. License: CC BY-4.0 / Data / The World Bank / www.worldbank.org
[6] International Energy Statistic / Geography /  U.S. Energy Information Administration / www.eia.gov/beta/international/
[7] Solar resource data obtained from the Global Solar Atlas, owned by the World Bank Group and provided by Solargis / Global Solar Atlas / globalsolaratlas.info
[8] Wind Map / Global Wind Atlas 2.0, a free, web-based application developed, owned and operated by the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) in partnership with the World Bank Group, utilizing data provided by Vortex, with funding provided by the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP). For additional information: globalwindatlas.info
[9] World Energy Resources: Hydro World Energy Council / 2013 / Publications / World Energy Council / https://www.worldenergy.org/
[10] Agricultural land (% of land area) /Food and Agriculture Organization, electronic files and web site. License: CC BY-4.0 / Data / The World Bank / www.worldbank.org
[11] Forest area (% of land area) /Food and Agriculture Organization, electronic files and web site. License: CC BY-4.0 / Data / The World Bank / www.worldbank.org
[12] Municipal waste statistics Updated / Statistics Explained / Eurostat / https://ec.europa.eu
[13] Statistical Pocketbook of the Republic of Serbia (PDF) / Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia / https://publikacije.stat.gov.rs/G2023/PdfE/G202317016.pdf
[14] Hydro power plants / Elektroprivreda Srbije / https://www.eps.rs/eng/Poslovanje-EE/Pages/Hidroelektrane.aspx
[15] 2022 Energy Agency Annual Report (PDF) / www.aers.rs/Files/Izvestaji/Godisnji/Eng/AERS%20Annual%20Report%202022.pdf
[16]  Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan of the Republic of Serbia for the period 2030 with the projections up to 2050 (PDF)

The sources of charts and curves are specified under the images.

For more information about the energy industry in Serbia see here