The Western Balkans are rapidly investing in new renewable energy sources
Source：Capital daily BG
From：Taiwan Trade Center, Sofia
Update Time：2023/02/19
The energy transformation of the region has already begun and will only accelerate while Bulgaria remains on the sidelines of this process
While Bulgaria is about to give up billions in European funding for the green transition in order to postpone for several years the limitation of coal-fired power plants, the transition to energy independence in the Balkans continues at high speed. And while the leaders in this regard so far were Greece and Romania, now the western parts of the Balkans - Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia and Albania - are also joining the process. In total, these countries have concrete projects underway to add about 2 GW of new capacity over the next few years.
In theory, there is also a RES boom in Bulgaria - for the past year 2022 alone, there were applications for the construction of 17.5 GW of RES capacity , but less than 500 megawatts will actually be realized.
From the bowels to the heavens
One of the good practices for transforming regions that until recently were tied to energy production from fossil fuels to those with RES, for example, is happening in Albania. The recently active oil refinery in Balsh, southern Albania, is already in the process of being dismantled, and a 100 MW solar park is planned to be built on the vacated area. Approval for this transformation has been given by the government. The current owner, the private Shijaku, has used the refinery in recent years solely for the production of bitumen, and the enterprise has not made a profit. Interestingly, one of the companies that will have the opportunity to build the new solar park is Shijaku's subsidiary Greennat Solar Park Ballsh.
Approval for the construction of the solar park does not come without conditions from the Albanian government. One of them is that it should be built within the next 60 months and have an operational period of 49 years. If the winning company wants to transfer the rights to a third party, this action will have to be approved by the Albanian Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy, and the new company will have to provide an amount equivalent to 5% of the proposed investment before a contract is signed. The management company will have to provide quarterly reports on its condition to the National Natural Resources Agency, and 2% of the annual production will have to be provided directly to the state or the equivalent amount.
The park will have to be built without subsidies from the state. Other examples of new RES are the projects of Aurous Energy, 5GX Energy, BADDelta Plano Studio and Argo Sun Energy, and EU Green Energy and Winpharma for a total of 125 MW of wind and solar installations.
The lucky 13
A 125 MW wind power project has finally been approved near Livno on Kamesnica Hill, a territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina next to the border with Croatia, after approximately 13 years of planning and changes. Named "Shiroka Draga", the energy project also includes a hydroelectric power station to the wind power, and the Turkish Enprode is included as the contractor for the first part of the project.
Although it has received approval from the government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Široka Draga must also receive approval from parliament before it can officially begin any work on the construction of the wind farm. If it gets the go-ahead, which is highly likely, the wind farm will consist of 19 individual turbines of 6.6 MW each.
One every day
For the past year 2022, the Commission for the Regulation of Energy and Water Services of North Macedonia has issued 267 licenses for the production of electricity from renewable sources for capacities over 150 mW, which is almost one per working day. Of these, the largest number is for solar installations - 106.5 mW, followed by 36 mW for wind energy, 7.2 mW for small hydropower plants and 2.5 mW from biogas.
The expectation from the North Macedonian government is to have double or almost triple the capacity added to the energy grid from RES in 2023, or between 300 and 400 MW, of which 200 - 300 MW will be from solar parks. One of the major projects still under discussion is with the private Akuo Energy for the construction of a 400 MW solar park in Stip.
Three by three
At the moment, according to the statement of the Minister of Energy of Serbia Dubravka Jedovic, our western neighbor has about 550 mW of newly installed RES capacities, all of which are from wind energy. The desire of the Serbian government is to achieve 2 GW of capacities from various RES sources in the next three years. This year, the first stage of this three-year plan is expected to be launched, in which the auctions will be for about 400 MW.
According to Jedović, the Ministry of Energy is also in the process of improving its regulatory measures, wanting to transfer part of the responsibilities for building and connecting new RES capacities to the grid of the state utilities Elektromreža Srbije (EMS) and Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) to investors.
Source: https://www.capital.bg/biznes/energetika/2023/01/17/4439009_zapadnite_balkani_udarno_investirat_v_novi_vei/