Prishtina, 16 June 2023 – Minister of Economy, Artane Rizvanolli, participated virtually in the 8^th Annual Atlantic Council’s Central and Eastern European Energy Security Conference.

At the conference held at the Atlantic Council headquarters in Washington, D.C., due to the energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, discussions were held on transatlantic cooperation and energy supply security ahead of winter, long-term decarbonization efforts, and support for Ukraine’s energy sector.

Minister Rizvanolli, in her virtual participation, emphasized that Kosovo has faced numerous energy challenges in the past two years, such as the unprecedented energy crisis in Europe, which also affected Kosovo, finding the latter with outdated and unreliable 40- to 60-year-old capacities. Therefore, Minister Rizvanolli stressed that the lessons learned from the past two years in Kosovo indicate the need for prompt action, as national security cannot exist without energy security and that investing in efficient resources and renewable energy is not only a means to combat climate change but it is rather essential for energy independence and security, particularly to achieve energy independence from authoritarian regimes such as the Russian regime.

She also emphasized that Kosovo has taken a turn in its energy policy and has a very ambitious mission to transform our energy sector and decarbonize it by 2050, envisioning highly ambitious yet realistic goals for the development of renewable capacities. This includes increasing the renewable capacity to over 1300 primarily from wind and solar energy by 2031, compared to the current 240.

This is proved by the initiation of our first auction for 100 MW of PV Solar, among the first in the growing range of wind and solar auctions. Meanwhile, we are also working on several projects, including innovative ones following European and global standards, such as central heating powered by solar systems and investing in batteries to enhance our system’s flexibility.

The Kosovar Minister of Economy also stated that regional cooperation is another necessity and lesson drawn from the energy crisis. Energy issues are not confined to national borders; they are cross-border and can only be addressed through cooperation and regional integration becomes particularly important at a time when not only we but also other countries in the region are increasing the share of variable renewable resources in their systems and an important step that Kosovo is taking now is the operationalization of the Albanian Power Exchange, which is the joint energy exchange between Kosovo and Albania and will operationalize it in Kosovo.

In addition to Minister Rizvanolli, other speakers at the conference included Amos Hochstein, Senior Advisor to the President of the United States for Energy and Investments; Peter Dovhun, Minister of Economy of Slovakia; Davor Filipović, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Croatia; German Galushchenko, Minister of Energy of Ukraine; Victor Parlicov, Minister of Energy of Moldova, and representatives from other European countries and energy institutions.