The TIRZ directorate for subsidized industrial zones issued a call for companies who want to set up solar power plants in the still unused land in the zones.

The TIRZ zones are meant for manufacturing plants, usually by foreign investors who receive preferential tax treatment and subsidies – a policy that bore great success under the previous Government. The new plan is to lease the still unused land in the two Skopje zones as well as in the zones in Stip, Stumica, Prilep and Struga, to energy companies, who would be able to install solar panels with capacity of 50 megawatts total. The contracts would be signed for 25 years.

Building solar plants is very popular with politically linked companies, who benefit from the generous subsidies and the high energy prices that followed the collapse of domestic energy production. Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski is strongly encouraging these investments, given that he was long co-owner of a large company that deals with importing solar panels, and his wife is currently investing in one of these plants.