Western Balkans can skip gas in clean energy transition: report

(ANSA-AFP) - BELGRADE, 16 LUG - Western Balkans countries have enough prospective solar and wind capacity to skip gas-fired power plants in their clean energy transitions, a report said on Tuesday. The six Western Balkan nations -- Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia -- now produce electricity primarily from coal and hydropower. But using solar and wind capacities could generate "four times more electricity than the proposed gas fleet over their lifetimes", said the report by Global Energy Monitor (GEM), a US-based NGO, rendering gas power obsolete in the region. The six countries have in total 23 gigawatts (GW) of utility-scale solar and wind capacity in announced projects or those already in pre-construction or construction phases, according to the report. "It is 70 percent more than a year ago and comparable to the prospective capacity in Germany".
    "If these projects become operational, then they could replace all present and future gas power capacity in the region". Leapfrogging gas would save over nine billion euros ($9.8 billion) in energy costs and 87 percent of the region's CO2 emissions in 2022, it said. Serbia currently has the largest share of operating and prospective utility-scale solar and wind capacity in the region, respectively, 29 and 47 percent. The report warned that the region's operating utility-scale solar and wind capacity accounts for just seven percent of the regional electricity mix. Also, only six percent of prospective capacity is under construction and likely to become operational, it said. "Choosing renewables is a greener move that makes economic sense," Zhanaiym Kozybay, co-author of the report, said in a statement but warned that "more political will is needed domestically". Also, the European Union, which all six countries aspire to join, and the US "should champion the region's clean energy potential rather than backing expensive, polluting gas", Kozybay said. bur-ljv/gv / (ANSA-AFP).