SARAJEVO (Bosnia and Herzegovina), June 26 (SeeNews) – The International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Thursday Western Balkan countries should further reform and integrate their energy markets, diversify their energy sources and improve energy efficiency.
“The overall choice of reform and integration is undoubtedly the right one for the Western Balkans,” IEA Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka said in a statement summarising the agency’s newly issued report, Energy in the Western Balkans: The Path to Reform and Reconstruction.
“Building on the progress that has already been made, the task now is to ensure that the institutions, strategies and political support are in place to reach these goals throughout the region,” Tanaka said.
The report of the Paris-based IEA says energy reform and restructuring began later in the Western Balkans than in other parts of Central and Eastern Europe. Robust, competitive market-based frameworks with empowered and independent regulators are essential to attracting investment.
It emphasises many of those markets rely on a dominant single source of electricity supply, such as lignite in Serbia and Kosovo and hydropower in Albania, and on imported oil and gas. “Reform and integration can address these vulnerabilities by diversifying the energy mix within the region as well as sources of external supply, promoting energy efficiency and the development of renewable energy sources.”
The report points out that inefficiencies contribute to relatively high energy intensities in the Western Balkans, up to 2.5 times higher than the average for OECD Europe and that programmes for raising energy efficiency should be an integral part of future strategies.
“An estimated one in six people in the region are exposed to energy poverty, with insufficient energy services to ensure a healthy lifestyle for themselves and their families. Programmes to reduce energy poverty, for example through better building insulation, need to be integrated into energy policymaking. While energy prices should move to reflect costs, targeted support or subsidies can protect vulnerable segments of the population,” the IEA statement said.
The report also suggests the Western Balkans can play an important role in trans-European oil and gas networks, including new supply routes from the Caspian basin and Middle East. “In the case of natural gas, access to new sources of supply – whether by pipeline or LNG – and the development of gas distribution networks will be critical to the growth of a competitive regional market,” the statement said.
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