Government says Kosovo cannot depend on renewable energy generation resources

The debate over the potential of alternative resources from civil society and Kosovo Government officials has been circulated following the World Bank's withdrawal to support the construction of New Kosovo's <x0).

The World Bank has said it will not support the construction of the new “Kosova” to produce power from coal and that the priority bank remains the current produced by alternative options.

Meanwhile, Kosovo government and winning company “Contour Global” has said that despite the World Bank's withdrawal, the UN thermal power project “New Kosovo” will live.

Economic Development Minister Valdrin Luka in a conversation for Radio Free Europe says Kosovo has no capacity to replace energy production from coal to alternative sources.

For this, says Luka, the only opportunity to provide stable and sustainable supplies to citizens with electricity is coal, but with modern technologies that do not pollute the environment.

“renewable energy or alternative energy has its shortcomings. Because solar energy produces at a time when Kosovo does not need much energy, for example during the summer produces mostly. Then, wind energy has great unpredictable, because we don't know, when there's a wind, and that destabilises the transmission and all the loads on the grid. Therefore, given that we have wealth, one of the largest in the world for coal, and technology has significantly advanced in reducing pollution emissions, then for the Government of Kosovo remains that this project (the construction of the New Kosovo plant) must be realised”, Luka said.

But, otherwise, representatives of civil society who have lobbied against the construction of the thermocentral plant “New Kosovo”.

Diana Berisha from the Kosovar consortium of the Sustainable Civil Development Society (KOSID), for Radio Free Europe, says Kosovo has enough capacity for alternative energy. But, according to her, Kosovo does not have a reliable map of the winds, and the potential of wind energy exploitation remains unexplored.

The lack of such a map, according to Berisha, has created a situation that offers space for such claims that Kosovo has little renewable energy capacity.

When we're talking about alternative energy, Kosovo has a lot of sun, there's a lot of wind that all of this should be measurable, it's supposed to be that Government has data. But the government has only focused on New Kosovo, and it's already in a moment that I don't know where to go. KOSID, however, has offered solutions and indicated steps to be taken. Isolation of houses and public buildings is a necessary measure that has to be done yesterday, but must now be launched”, Berisha says

Minister Luka says Kosovo currently has no budgetary opportunity to invest in renewable energy, as, according to him, the country cannot depend on climate conditions. Such a condition, he says, would make Kosovo consistently dependent on import.

We can't only generate electricity when we have climate conditions, because even if we make a huge investment of billions in renewable energy, we'll be importators of electricity. Because we have to import in the time of the greatest need, during the winter. We need to import it on a continuous basis and that doesn't help us not to be importative state”, says Minister Luka.

On the other hand, in the Energy Strategy that the Republic of Kosovo for 2017-2026 says renewable energy sources present an important source of energy that Kosovo is with, with still untapped potential.

However, as a member of the Energy Community, Kosovo is obliged to reach limits, which by 2020 meet up to 25 percent of the goals of final energy consumption from renewable energy sources.