PODGORICA (Montenegro), October 8 (SeeNews) – Montenegro is on a firm path and a forerunner in complying with the Energy Community acquis, but it still faces considerable challenges such as opening up the electricity market, the implementation of the emission limits or renewable energy targets, the Vienna-based Energy Community said in a report.
Montenegro should finalize the adoption of the new legislation in the electricity sector in compliance with the EU's Third Package without further delay, having failed to comply with the transposition deadline of January 1, 2015, the Community said in an annual country report.
In terms of the gas market, the Community urges Montenegro to adopt the draft energy laws as soon as possible as a prerequisite for being able to engage in regional gas projects.
Montenegro is exploring for oil in the Adriatic Sea and should thus also focus on adopting the new draft Law on Compulsory Oil Stocks and the subsequent secondary legislation in line the Energy Community directives.
In concrete terms the following tasks should be taken into consideration in the development of the oil sector: establishment of an agency, start of negotiations with the banking sector, having available storage capacities from the oil companies (state-owned and private), improving data collection to develop a workable reporting system (to calculate net imports) and modification of the basic model of the stockpiling regime.
Despite progress made in the past years, the Energy Community said that Montenegro still fails to comply with the acquis on renewable energy, with the lack of administrative capacity hindering further promotion of this sector.
The swift adoption of a Third Energy Package-compliant energy law must become top priority, the Community said.
„Connection to the grids for new renewable energy power plants as well as market integration of renewable energy remains critical in the country,“ the report added, reiterating that in the permitting and grid connection procedures, simplification and more transparency are urgently required to create a conducive investment framework.
The Energy Community was established by an international law treaty in October 2005. As of July 1, 2013, the parties to the treaty are the European Union and Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia and Ukraine. The key aim of the organization is to extend the EU internal energy market to Southeast Europe and beyond on the basis of a legally binding framework.
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