Large-scale solar and wind projects in Serbia have fully transitioned into a phase where execution governance, statutory supervision, health-and-safety control, land management and post-commissioning performance assurance are decisive for investor outcomes. In this environment, the Owner’s Engineer acting as Employer’s Representative is no longer a technical layer sitting alongside construction, but the institutional backbone through which legal compliance, construction supervision, lender confidence and long-term asset integrity are aligned across the full lifecycle of the project.
Once development milestones are locked and the project moves into construction, the scope under supervision expands materially beyond generation assets. Utility-scale renewables in Serbia are infrastructure projects in the full sense: they include civil works, electrical works, electromechanical installation, high- and medium-voltage substations, overhead and underground transmission lines, permanent access roads, drainage systems, foundations, fencing, control buildings and telecommunications. Each of these elements carries its own regulatory, safety and performance risks, and all must be delivered under a single, coherent supervision regime.
Under FIDIC EPC frameworks, execution responsibility sits with the contractor, but control, certification and enforcement sit with the Employer’s Representative. When the Owner’s Engineer is appointed into this role, supervision of works becomes legally actionable rather than observational. The OE verifies that construction is performed strictly in accordance with approved designs, Serbian technical regulations, contractual specifications and manufacturer requirements, intervening immediately where deviations threaten safety, performance or schedule.
A critical dimension of this supervision is Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) oversight. Construction of large solar and wind projects involves high-risk activities: turbine erection at height, heavy lifting operations, high-voltage works, trenching, working in agricultural or forested land, and interface with public roads and third-party landowners. In Serbia, HSE compliance is not optional or procedural; serious breaches can result in site shutdowns, criminal liability and loss of operating permits. Investors and lenders therefore increasingly require independent, continuous HSE supervision integrated into the Owner’s Engineer mandate.
The OE, acting as Employer’s Representative, oversees the contractor’s HSE management system, verifies risk assessments and method statements, monitors site practices and enforces corrective actions. This supervision protects not only workers and third parties but also the project schedule and financing structure. Accidents and environmental incidents translate directly into delay risk, cost escalation and reputational exposure, all of which undermine investment returns. In lender-grade projects, HSE performance is treated as a financial risk variable, not a soft compliance issue.
Land management is another area where execution risk concentrates and where the OE’s role is increasingly critical. Large solar and wind projects in Serbia typically span dozens or hundreds of land parcels, often involving a mix of ownership structures, agricultural land, access easements and temporary construction rights. During construction, land disturbance, access routes, temporary works and reinstatement obligations must be managed carefully to avoid disputes, injunctions or post-completion claims. The OE coordinates land-related execution issues, ensuring that works are performed strictly within permitted boundaries, that reinstatement obligations are met, and that landowners’ rights are respected in accordance with permits and agreements.
Transmission lines and grid-connection infrastructure amplify these land risks. Routing, tower placement, underground cabling and right-of-way access often cross third-party land and public infrastructure. The OE supervises execution to ensure alignment with approved routes and conditions, minimising exposure to legal challenges that could delay energisation. From an investor perspective, disciplined land management during construction is directly linked to certainty of grid connection and revenue start.
Supervision also extends deeply into erection and installation of equipment, where latent defects introduced during construction can compromise long-term performance. In wind projects, this includes supervision of foundation preparation, tower erection, nacelle installation, rotor mounting, electrical completion and commissioning readiness. In solar projects, it includes mounting structures, module installation, inverter stations, medium-voltage systems and integration into substations. The OE ensures that installation practices preserve manufacturer warranties and contractual performance guarantees, protecting both immediate commissioning outcomes and long-term O&M assumptions.
Testing and commissioning mark the transition from construction risk to operational risk, and they are inseparable from supervision of works. Pre-commissioning tests, protection testing, energisation procedures, reliability runs and performance tests must be executed across generation assets, substations and transmission infrastructure as an integrated system. The OE coordinates this process, witnesses tests, validates results and certifies compliance before contractual acceptance is granted. These certifications unlock commercial operation and final lender drawdowns, making the OE’s judgement directly linked to cash-flow realisation.
However, investor risk does not end at commissioning. The defects liability period is a critical but often underestimated phase in Serbian renewable projects. During this period, the EPC contractor remains responsible for rectifying defects that emerge under real operating conditions. The Owner’s Engineer plays a central role in monitoring asset behaviour, documenting defects, enforcing corrective actions and certifying final completion. This protects investors from inheriting latent technical issues that only surface after sustained operation, such as grounding faults, inverter instability, turbine component defects or substation control issues.
Quality management across construction and the defects period is therefore a continuous process, not a one-off inspection exercise. Documentation discipline, inspection records, test results and defect logs form the evidentiary backbone of claims management and warranty enforcement. Investors and lenders rely on this documentation to defend asset value and to support refinancing, portfolio aggregation or secondary market transactions.
Local regulatory context reinforces the importance of this integrated supervision model. In Serbia, construction supervision, HSE oversight and technical compliance must be carried out by properly licensed entities and professionals. Failure to meet these requirements can invalidate permits, delay use approvals or expose projects to regulatory sanctions. The Owner’s Engineer, holding appropriate local authorisations, provides legal certainty that works are executed in compliance with national law, an assurance that is increasingly scrutinised in lender due diligence.
Across both solar and wind technologies, market experience in Serbia points to a clear conclusion. Projects where supervision of works, HSE control, land management and defects oversight are fragmented or under-empowered consistently face higher delay risk, dispute intensity and post-COD performance volatility. Conversely, projects structured around a single, licensed Owner’s Engineer acting as Employer’s Representative, with authority spanning construction, grid infrastructure, safety, land and post-commissioning performance, demonstrate superior delivery discipline and faster stabilisation of operating cash flows.
For investors and lenders, this integrated governance model is no longer an enhancement or best practice. In Serbia’s large-scale renewable sector, it has become a core determinant of bankability and asset quality, shaping not only how projects are built, but how reliably they perform over their economic life.
Elevated by clarion.engineer