Kosovo and the return of global attention to coal as energy resources

The Russo-Ukrainian war demonstrated once again the serious consequences, tell it irreparable of energy dependence on others. Despite severe sanctions imposed on the banking and aviation sector, and other sectors, following the start of the attack on Ukraine, Western countries today are continuing to pay Russia hundreds of millions of dollars every day for gas and oil imports.

More specifically, these days the Irish Environment Minister stated: “every day we spend 350m euros giving to the Russian system so they can invest in weapons that today are hitting the city of Kiev and other areas. For climate reasons and for the safety of our people, we need to reevaluate this dependence on fossil fuels”.

And it turns out that Europe, despite the clear and decidatory definition of sanctioning Russia for invasion in Ukraine, is somehow being forced to still consume Russian energy resources and therefore pay high financial costs, but also to help Russian militia. Because Russia still meets a third of Europe's natural gas needs, or about 40 percent of its energy needs, Europe meets them from imported Russian energy resources.

According to recent media figures, which is worse, Russian imports have actually increased since the beginning of the attack on Ukraine, while the rising price of Russian trade makes it even more profitable. It's coming up to be <x0 water loss in havan” Western leaders' attempts to find other energy alternatives. Because alternatives are not found overnight. It takes years and years to create them. It is already becoming controversial, even inconsistent, and document-level commitments (states, resolutions, international agreements) and pledges to close energy thermopathies on the basis of coal and nuclear plants under specific deadlines.

As it is known, Germany has pledged to close its nuclear power plants by the end of this year and all coal-fueled power plants by 2030. While these days the German government has regretted these vows, it is clear that these decisions could be annulled after Ukraine's Russian attack. The continent must speed up transition to renewable energy sources, says former German Environment and Energy Secretary Rainer Baake.

“There should be a very clear message for Russia now: we don't want your gas and oil in the future. It will be painful because prices will probably be higher. But this is the only way to rid yourself of this dependence on fossil fuels and to use renewable energy sources instead of fossil fuels”, he said, according to international media.

Meanwhile, energy giants, including Dutch company “Shell” and British “BP” has announced they will sell their shares to Russian oil firms worth billions of dollars. Even the American company ExxonMobil has declared it will withdraw from a $4 billion natural oil and gas project and plans for other investments in Russia. This telegraphic data, and not a few statements of the European statesmen's demands of these days for regrets of Europe's powerful places for the conditional and quick abandon of the use of thermal power plants on the basis of coal, respectively, for extending the life of coal-powered thermal power plants, has to intrigue and try to entice “from sleep” and our officials, who seek loud and wasted no time, extending the lives of Kosovo thermal power plants with our linji. This is a good opportunity and is highly favorable to ask for it, even though it was spread as a result of painful warfare. After all, when the whole world is looking for it, why don't we. We have that right, so long ago, when it is known about our huge reserves of lignite, which lie virtually on the surface of the earth.

Luigi Ymer, who served a proven framework, leader in KEK and a good expert on energy flows, not only in the country, was expressed to the Economic Bulletin that “like Kosovo we have actually lost step in achieving our energy development goals”. “Our strategies are not implemented properly. And as a result for many years, we've been growing into a transition of energy developments”, he said of the Economic Bulletin.

We are not naive not to understand global energy development trends, but our task is to make accurate assessment of the country's needs and energy resources, then offer the best and most optimistic alternatives possible for energy. It is known that we do not have much potential for any large capacity from wind turbines, as there is not much wind in Kosovo and there are few places where wind turbines can be installed. Solar panels in effective size would endanger the earth as few as possible. There remaineth therefore the coal, which is abundant in store for us, and upon us also. And that's exactly what nature has given us so rich that we haven't used well, carefully, especially in terms of conservation of environment”, Norm said.

About 94 percent of Kosovo's electricity output is from coal. While European politics, those of competent association and decision-making became very wild, harsh, and that inevitably put us in a favourable position in the face of developmental goals for us to have enough energy.

But until 2050, when there's no more coal energy, we have two stages. We have to convince the decision-makers that we are not and have never been against renewable energy. On the contrary, with our natural potential for building solar and wind power capacities, there is no possibility of meeting Kosovo's current needs. So it remains to say as a necessary alternative to coal, at least until 2050, as our main energy source. Especially now, after the Russo-Ukrainian war and the return of attention and focus that in the energy development strategies of many powerful countries in Europe and in the decision-making circles of the EU, many people have caught up in a future of energy, in which coal was in no way an alternative to producing electricity in a not so distant future. And, the energy crisis of the 2021 end-of-year and the beginning of the 2022 year in the world, which was sharply reflected in Kosovo, testified that we Kosovars do not have as many alternatives as coal, to offer Kosovo citizens stability in the electricity and acceptable costs.

The necessary alternative, the intestine, especially now remains to build a new power capacity based on coal, or re-ilitation - reconstruction of three Kosovo blocks A (A3, A4 and A5) that are still in operation and producing, even 35 percent of Kosovo's electricity. Now, because of the pressure that powerful countries in global energy are going to make, it's likely that there's no longer one of the serious difficulties and the threat of A's reconstruction, or of a very new thermo-environment capacity 300-400 megavens, carbon taxes, warned that the EU would impose and that it would be very expensive, or that it would be applied to something as much as the cost of production of a megava and perhaps more than that.

In the context of the expected energy developments in the country no longer allow for errors, whatever they are, and that eventual errors in this sector cannot be cited. Kosovo, as it is seen, will depend mainly on coal for several years. More or less, so do Kosovo policy people, but so do our experts. In the context of these developments, Kosovo must finally prove wise. To make it clear to the community energy but also to the international political, real energy needs, but to those needs both resources and energy potential. It would be wise if the solution to Kosovo's focus as quickly as possible to have the overall defuelisation of the energy sector, rapidly increasing construction in renewable energy, which means by increasing many investments in energy developments and at the same time finding a modus, where until 2045-2050 are used by coal-based thermal power plants. Now, after the return of the world's attention to coal, it is much easier to implement this policy, but also to seek money from international financial institutions for new electrical events. Circumstances and developments on the Russo-Ukrainian front have created the case. Kosovo has this case at the door now. It just needs to be used.