Prishtina, 17.09.2019 – Today, the acting Minister of Economic Development, Valdrin Lluka, participated in the 4-day conference “Kosovo Sustainable Development Week” organized in cooperation with the European Commission, the German Government, the Balkan Green Foundation and INDEP, the main goal of which is to bring together energy and environment experts to discuss the country’s future in these areas.

In his introductory speech, Minister Lluka said that Kosovo has tremendous potential for renewable energy. In the forthcoming year, it is expected to generate over 200 MW of solar electricity through two separate platforms. He also noted that in addition to the potential for commercial electricity generation, there is an even greater potential for self-consumption generation, both for households and businesses.

“Citizens are no longer consumers; they now represent a source of energy. Every household’s roof represents a tremendous potential to generate electricity for self-consumption. Today, Kosovo’s legislation supports the possibility of storing surplus electricity into the distribution grid, which could be used whenever the citizen needs it”, said Lluka during the conference. He added that the same applies to businesses operating in Kosovo, but unfortunately, they have not yet found the proper support from the energy regulator in Kosovo.

“Businesses should also be provided with the opportunity to generate electricity from solar panels and store in the distribution grid as much electricity as desired rather than be limited to 100 KW, as it is now regulated. This leads to the possibility of generating hundreds of megawatts of electricity”, added Lluka.

The Ambassador of Germany, Christian Heldt, was also present at this conference. He spoke about the importance of renewable energy and its impact on the workplace and the environment in which we live. Ambassador Heldt also stressed that Germany is planning for new targets of 60% of the electricity consumed to be generated by green energy and, considering that Kosovo has twice as much sunlight as Germany, it is even more possible for Kosovo.

Burim Ejupi, Executive Director at INDEP, said he was pleased that the Kosovo Government is reflecting on new renewable energy trends. He also emphasized that energy storage technology was inadequate five years ago. Nowadays, it is said to have quite potential and I am sure it will be much more advanced in the next five years.

Kosovo Sustainable Development Week is an annual conference organized in cooperation with the European Commission, the German Government, the Balkan Green Foundation and INDEP. The main goal is to bring together energy and environment experts to discuss the country’s future in these areas.