An increased focus on renewable energy is a key component of both reducing pollution and ensuring a country’s long-term energy security. In this vein, since 2013, Kosovo’s private sector has been investing in solar energy as an alternative source of renewable energy, both as a mechanism for increasing the security of its power supply and as a means for reducing operating costs. Until now, the private sector has successfully implemented more than 200 installations of photovoltaic panels throughout Kosovo. However, many of these investments have been limited due to the structural and legal impediments to investments in renewable energy. In order to allow larger scale investments in renewable energy, USAID is supporting the private sector’s efforts to create an enabling environment for increased renewable energy investments.
Jaha Solar is the first company in Kosovo and the region to produce photovoltaic solar panels. With funding from USAID, Jaha Solar obtained the necessary product certifications to scale up its production and compete in the international market with high-quality, internationally certified photovoltaic panels. In addition to creating new jobs, made-in-Kosovo photovoltaic panels have decreased the investment costs for Kosovo businesses and citizens looking to invest in solar energy installations. Trim Tërnava of Jaha Solar states, “The drop in the cost of investment has already made this type of technology, or photovoltaic system, economically reasonable for every citizen and every business of Kosovo.”
While solar energy installations for self-consumption are popping up throughout Kosovo as small businesses and citizens take advantage of the drop in investment costs, the private sector has identified a number of challenges in the legislation that inhibit existing investments from expanding further. One such challenge is that existing Kosovo legislation limits the total installed solar capacity of prosumers, companies that both produce and consume energy, to 100 kilowatts. In addition to lack of compliance with a European Union directive that allows prosumer installations up to 400 kilowatts, many Kosovo companies consume more than 100 kilowatts an hour during the day and have expressed interest in scaling up their solar energy installations to reduce operating costs. This limitation on installed capacity forces companies to buy excess electricity from the power grid rather than maximizing the potential of producing electricity from renewable energy sources for their own consumption.
The private sector plays an important role in influencing policy, scaling up the amount of renewable energy investments in Kosovo, and finding innovative solutions to energy challenges. In partnership with the private sector, USAID is continuing to support the development of a regulatory framework for renewable energy investments, the creation of a one-stop shop to streamline licensing and permitting processes for renewable energy developers, and the attraction of financing mechanisms for renewable energy transactions for both, self-consumption and utility-scale, electricity generators.
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