The Institute for Development Policy (INDEP), held today, on November 18, 2020, the roundtable “Green Deal for the Balkans and the National Energy and Climate Plan”, moderated by Dardan Abazi, Senior Researcher and Program Director at INDEP and with panellists Luan Morina, Head of the Department of Energy at MEE, and Fisnik Osmani, Advisor to the Prime Minister of Kosovo. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the roundtable was closed for the audience and was broadcasted virtually on the INDEP Facebook page.
Mr. Osmani said that the National Energy and Climate Plan will follow the Green Deal and that Kosovo is committed to going further in the implementation of this deal. Whereas considering that Kosovo is drafting the National Plan for Energy and Climate, after the completion of this plan, Kosovo will be clear where it will move, he concluded. Regarding the issue of the “Kosova e Re” Power Plant, Mr. Osmani confirmed that the Government of Kosovo is handling this process through legal mechanisms and that Contour Global has withdrawn from this project. Finally, Mr. Osmani expressed his readiness to be an active part of energy developments on behalf of the Government and invited all parties to become part of energy decision-making processes.
On the other hand, Mr. Morina said that Kosovo is in its second ten years of energy and the momentum in which Kosovo is situated offers opportunities for redirecting Kosovo which path to choose. Now, the focus should be on achieving targets for solar and hydric energy. Regarding the signing of the Sofia Summit, he said that Kosovo is also working on the Energy Strategy in parallel with the National Energy and Climate Plan. Both of these documents are likely to include new targets, but that is yet to be decided based on the results of the upcoming studies. For 2050, the goal will be the decarbonization. Whereas, the New Energy Strategy, according to Mr. Morina, will be sent to the Government in the second quarter of 2021, while in public consultation will be sent sometime in March-April 2021.
Regarding RES, the focus will be on solar and wind energy and that by mid-2021, the auction scheme for RES will be ready, said Mr. Morina. This activity was implemented within the project “Promoting Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Sources in Kosovo”, funded by GIZ Kosovo , on behalf of the German Government, implemented by INDEP and within the sustainable development program of INDEP.
