Kosovo committed to improve energy efficiency

The Ministry of Economic Development of the Republic of Kosovo and the Kosovo Energy Efficiency Agency signed on 15 July a Cooperation Agreement with the “Open Regional Fund for South East Europe – Energy Efficiency” (ORF-EE) on the development and implementation of a “Energy Efficiency Monitoring and Verification Platform,” in a project implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), on behalf of the Federal German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

This memorandum was signed by the Minister of Economic Development, Fadil Ismajli, Chief Executive Officer of the Kosovo Energy Efficiency Agency, Bedri Dragusha, and the GIZ representative, Reinhard Trenkle on behalf of the “Open Regional Fund for South East Europe – Energy Efficiency” (ORF-EE), in the presence of the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Prishtina, Peter Blomeyer.

Minister Fadil Ismajli emphasized that energy efficiency is much more significant for Kosovo than for other countries in the region, bearing in mind that energy sources in Kosovo are mostly fossil fuels, and that our thermal power plants are lignite-powered and have difficulties in following the daily load diagram, while other alternative energy generation sources, such as hydro, solar and wind, are still not sufficient.

“With the launching of this project, respectively with the signature of this agreement Kosovo will have a modern system for monitoring and verifying energy efficiency measures at the municipal level. The development of this platform will also provide for easier access to data on energy savings to all other stakeholders and parties of interests,” said Ismajli.

According to him, all activities, plans and measures that were developed and are continuously being developed will effect reduction of consumption and the need to consume energy at higher values, thus providing a better possibility for strategic energy planning and more effective implementation policies.

Ismajli said that the Government will continue to remain committed to implementing efficiency measures, while expressing his gratitude to other stakeholders involved in this sector, including GIZ, KfW, European Commission and the World Bank, for the support given in this direction.

The German Ambassador in Prishtina, Peter Blomeyer said that saving money is not the main stimulus for energy saving, noting that energy generation and consumption play a key role in climate changes, making energy savings a general responsibility for everyone.

“Kosovo too is obliged to use energy in a responsible manner, as a member of the Energy Community, as this is part of its obligations in the journey towards Europe,” he said, adding that the work of the fund has yielded good results in the sense of energy efficiency advancement and regional cooperation.

GIZ representative, Reinhard Trenkle, said that energy efficiency reduces costs, but also can promote economic development in the country.

“Energy efficiency, or energy efficient technologies, can open path to the creation of values in this country, and for this reason we’ve chosen to have energy efficiency and renewable energy sources a recurrent theme through which we will assist Kosovo’s further economic development,” he said.

KEEA CEO, Bedri Dragusha, said that the signature of this agreement will facilitate the work of KEEA and municipal officials, namely will ensure an easier monitoring of measures undertaken at both local and central level.

“Kosovo has compiled its long-term energy efficiency action plan (KEEAP) for the period 2010–2018, in which the indicative savings target is set at 9%, and I may add that in the first mid-term energy efficiency action plan 2010-2012 the indicative target was 3%.” He further added that the progress report on the first KEEAP for the period 2010 – 2012 is compiled, along with the Second Energy Efficiency Action Plan for the period 2013-2015.

energjia.al, 22.07.2013