Branimir Mijailović, Director, Energotehnika Južna Bačka

General Manager Branimir Mijailović, a former student of Belgrade University and today an experienced engineer, has been running Energotehnika Južna Bačka for two years. In their everyday work, he and his 400 staff face, on the one hand, the company’s 60-year tradition, and on the other the ever-changing reality of today’s energy sector.

In an interview for CorD he recalled that, by signing the Energy Community Treaty, Serbia has accepted the obligation to fully implement EU directives in the field of renewable and alternative energy sources, under the agencies responsible for energy.

– Serbia has an obligation to reach a 20% RES share in gross final consumption by 2020. This is certainly not an easy task, but our country has adopted the legislative framework and incentives in this field. I expect this goal to be achieved. Given these facts and how we judge our technical possibilities, I am sure that we can greatly reduce the use of fossil fuels and in this way directly improve the environment.

At Energotehnika-Južna Bačka we see this as a serious obligation, but also as a great development opportunity. As one of the leading companies in the field of energy, it is our duty to participate in creating a positive environment to realize these goals. At the same time, we see a chance to take part in building the most complex projects in the field of RES with our staff and technical capacities.

Where is your company on environmental protection, nature conservation and climate, since these issues are one of the priorities of sustainable development on a global scale?

Energotehnika-Južna Bačka is determined to take care of environmental impacts through its daily work and to permanently improve environmental management in accordance with the standards and regulations governing the field.

On this subject are always trying to go a step further whenever possible. I am quite confident that we are setting an example in promoting this type of business and that there is indeed a clear determination of the management and owners to accelerate all of our work related to environmental protection by concrete initiatives and activities. This commitment is primarily reflected in defining the goals and budget available in our business plans.

We are fully aware that without a healthy environment there is no sustainable growth and development of a company, and in the end, it makes no sense to do business at all

On the company’s website, we can read not only that you have a respectable team of experts, but also that you cooperate with universities. To what extent do you rely on scientific arguments, analysis and projections in your everyday work?

Previous references and successful projects give us the right to say without false modesty that we have very professional staff in our area of business.

However, at the same time, we are aware that without a development component and long-term planning there is no certainty when it comes to the future of the business. For this reason, we rely heavily on cooperation with scientific and educational institutions, among which is the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Novi Sad. At the beginning of this year, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Faculty of Technical Sciences and the Energotehnika – Južna Bačka company on various forms of cooperation in development projects.

In addition, the Memorandum defines the implementation of the Scholarship Programme for students who achieve special success in their studies and provides material conditions for achieving top results in international competitions.