US expands billions of projects in Balkans Kosovo remains off map

In the past five years, Kosovo's access to gas has been more a “retorted and don't tear it down” than a determined policy. From a concrete American support project to his refusal in 2021 to the return of discussions on new opportunities this year, the country is still without clear direction.

At the Trans-Atlantic Gas Security Summit, held in February in Washington, Kosovo Economy Minister Artane Rizvanolli, currently in office, expressed Kosovo's readiness to supply natural gas from the United States, describing co-operation as <x0-seat” for a safe energy sector.

For a country like Kosovo, where about 90 percent of electricity is still produced from coal, and only about 10 percent comes from renewable sources such as water, wind, and sun, is the fact that gas can serve as an alternative to breaking deep dependence from a single source.

But over the past few weeks, when the US and US companies have signed billion agreements with several Western Balkan countries to expand the energy impact in the region, Kosovo has not been part of this investment wave.

Important initiatives have entered: Albania, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, including in a major project to build a gas pipeline aimed at removing Sarajevo from Russian supplies.

For US Energy Secretary Chris Wright, this means a new era of co-operation with Central and Eastern Europe.

These partnerships are based on our mutual support for an energy expansion agenda, and this is evidenced by agreements worth billions of dollars, which have been signed”, Wright wrote at X.

Though Kosovo saw a clear role in these developments, it is not beyond the attention of the United States. US Department of Energy special envoy Joshua Volz tells Radio Free Europe that Kosovo's energy system is in urgent need of modernisation what creates great opportunities for the American industry to invest.

However, he stresses that major projects will depend on Kosovo itself, respectively, on improving the business and regulatory environment in the country.

Steps must be made to promote US private investments and international financing to come to Kosovo. This is what the Department of Commerce, Treasury Department and the U.S. State Department are working on. If and when market dynamics change and the business environment becomes more attractive, the Energy Department will be willing to help mediate the American industry and industrial partners in Kosovo”, Volz says.

Volz expresses optimism and stresses that Kosovo's connection with regional gas infrastructure is already part of the ongoing discussions.

Our goal is for American energy resources to reach all our partners and allies, who are interested in long-term energy co-operation with the American industry and with the United States”, he says.

Free Radio Europe asked the Kosovo Ministry of Economy whether there is any concrete plan or deadlines for connecting to the regional network, for the possibilities of building gas infrastructure and for talks with American officials, but was not answered even after a week of waiting.

Currently, Kosovo benefits from the US Government's Kompack programme, worth over 230m euros, which is focused on clean energy and supply stability. As part of it, the country has already provided batteries with high energy storage capacity.

Jobloaded at the American Embassy in Pristina, Annu Prattipati said at an event this week that this investment was designed precisely to address the unstable power supply in Kosovo a problem that for years has negatively affected businesses, families and competition.

No progress occurs in isolation. The United States supports Kosovo in these efforts, but success depends on the continued commitment of the Government of Kosovo, the private sector, financial institutions and civil society”, Prattipati said.

Five years ago, Kosovo gave up the project to build gas infrastructure, financed by the US Millennium Challenge Corporation. At the time, Energy Minister Artane Rizvanolli said that more “is needed to make sure that gas infrastructure construction is the best option for energy transition”.

The “The pipeline will be made if it is in the interest of the citizens and the state of Kosovo and in accordance with the Kosovo Strategy. First the Strategy is made, and then decisions are made for specific projects”, Rizvanolli said at a Assembly session on November 18, 2021.

The strategy, which took place for the years 2022-2031, provided that Kosovo is linked to future regional gas networks, and that coal be removed from its later use until 2050, to give place to other energy resources.

“ ( Co-investment in natural gas thermal power plants, for the purpose of covering the system's basic demand and/or for flexibility in Albania, but also in northern Macedonia and Greece, will be considered in order to implement within the deadline of this” strategy, the document said.

Kosovo has no sea access, which makes it more difficult to build gas infrastructure without co-operation with neighbouring countries. One option is to connect to planned infrastructure in Albania or Greece, especially through gas pipeline TAP, which transports gas from Azerbaijan, across Greece and Albania, to Italy, either through the liquid gas terminal in Vlora.

Burim Ejupi, director of the Institute for Development Policy '% Indep in Pristina, says Kosovo has not completely lost the step, but that it is lagging behind, due to the lack of a clear political stance. He says, although gas is already close to infrastructure in Albania and the one in northern Macedonia the country continues to move without a cut direction.

The easiest way of energy transition is through gas, since, during the burning, it is about twice as much carbon dioxide. Also, the gas power plant is active very quickly and has a controlled production capacity. Kosovo also has problems balancing energy, so a gas plant would be very welcome, especially when it is known that, in recent years, millions of fines are being paid for this reason”, Ejupi says of the Free Radio Expos programme.

A study published by the Indep Institute in 2022 found that natural gas can become increasingly important for Kosovo in addressing the so-called “trime energy” ) designation, supply security and affordable energy.

That same year a study funded by the European Investment Bank, which stressed that Kosovo's final natural gas sources could include Russian gas, liquid natural gas from Greece, as well as Croatia.

With the changing geopolitical circumstances and new developments on the ground, Ejupi says gas for Kosovo is no longer technical but political decision-making issues.

The former Yugoslavia's “has existed from Obilic to Skopje and from Obilic to Mitrovica. The Obilic has been the heater, from which steam has been sent to Skopje's Hekurana, but also to Trepca. So, in terms of land infrastructure, Kosovo does not need expropriations, because they already exist”, Ejupi says.

He adds that, according to some estimates and taking into account investments in TAP, full construction of the gas infrastructure in Kosovo could be realised for 3 to 5 years, at a cost ranging from about 200m to 400m euros.

We have three major industries currently in Kosovo. It's Fernikonelli, who's out of order, it's Trepca and Sharr-Cemi. They can change the operating system from electricity to”, says Ejupi.

Brenda Shaffer, from the Global Energy Centre near the Atlantic Council, says the main challenge, in general, lies, not in pipelines or interconnerators, but in securing the main source of gas. And for Kosovo, according to her, this source already exists -- for example, through the Southern Gas Corridor through Albania.

Treating this as political and priority issues, rather than just technical, Shaffer says the US-backed initiative for gas interconnections in the Western Balkans provides a historic opportunity for diversification of energy supplies and reduction of pollution.

If you're not safe in energy, you can't be sure as a state. There's no national security without energy security. You can't protect yourself. You can't build a weapons industry. This has always been the approach of the United States: to help Allies and partners make sure in terms of energy, because if your allies are safe, then you're safe too”, Shaffer says of Expose.

But both energy and gas are not seen in just one direction. It brings benefits, but also dilemmas and costs.

Anne-Sophie Corbeau, from the Paris Centre for Global Energy Policy, says Kosovo should not necessarily be oriented towards gas. According to her, moving from coal to gas is not an automatic solution, since the risk of market fluctuations and the possibility of one addiction being replaced by another rather than a genuine energy diversification should be weighed.

And what I'm looking at is that the whole region is going through an addiction, previously from Russian gas, to another addiction that is mainly related to liquid American natural gas. Depending on this gas is fine because you can use various sources of supply. But if everything comes from just one country, even though it is expected to become a huge energy exporter in the future, would you like to be dependent on just one state?

What is certain, according to US Department of Energy senior official Volz, is that countries that choose to co-operate with the US for security and energy diversification can expect increased foreign investments, as the American presence in the energy sector is seen as a factor of stability and reliability.

In this context, gasification can be exactly the impetus Kosovo needs to get out of energy uncertainty and become more attractive to investments. / REL