REPCONS 2 represents the continuation of the project Renewable energy policy consensus". The project was financed by the ECF (European Climate Foundation) and ASOR acted as a local partner in cooperation with the organizations NERDA from Tuzla (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and CLEAN (Montenegro). The project is started in January 2021 and successfully completed in June 2022.

 

Barometer

Energy transition (ET) is a complex multi-disciplinary transformation process that requires the coordinated participation of a large number of social actors (eng. stakeholders). The technical and economic aspects of the transformation are particularly complex because ET is based on a new paradigm of development - the new-green industrial revolution. Therefore, the involvement of experts (from industry, operators/regulators, investors and the professional and academic community) from the fields of engineering, economics and law is a key factor for understanding the challenges and finding optimal solutions in the upcoming inevitable but also desirable comprehensive energy transformation. The expert community is expected to be the initiators of change and to propose solutions for the implementation of the new energy development paradigm based on the principles of 4D - Decarbonization, Decentralization, Democratization and Digitalization. It is particularly important for the expert community to be involved in the process of developing National Energy and Climate Plans (NECP) as strategic ET documents in the period up to 2030.
However, the expert community is only one of the social actors in the decarbonization process. The key bearer of the ET process, and especially the socio-economic transformation of society, must be state institutions (governments and parliaments) and state/public energy infrastructure: regulators, transmission and distribution system operators, renewable energy operators as well as energy efficiency agencies/funds . Institutions must not only create a legal and regulatory environment for the implementation of reforms, but also encourage and support ET with progressive policies and appropriate measures. In doing so, it is crucial that the entire process is conducted in a systematic way, which implies the preparation and implementation of key planning documents of decarbonization: the Low-Carbon Development Strategy until 2050 and the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) until 2030. In the countries of the Region (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia), the adoption of these documents is expected in 2021. These documents should be aligned with the EU's strategic commitments, and above all with the EU Green Deal. The global goal of ET should be to achieve the set decarbonization goals in the most economically acceptable way for consumers and taxpayers. At the same time, the transition should be realized in a market environment, which implies an equal position of all market actors: state-owned public companies and private investors. Only under these conditions will there be an optimal allocation of the necessary financial resources for the realization of this process.
The complex and comprehensive transformation of energy requires the participation of other social actors: industrial and commercial consumers, local authorities, the academic community, non-governmental organizations and, above all, citizens. The participation of these actors is particularly important from the aspect of ET implementation in which no one will be neglected, that is, during the planning and implementation of "just transition" programs and projects. Since ET decentralization and democratization are important principles, it is necessary to especially support projects in which these social actors participate, such as prosumer projects, local energy cooperatives, ESCO companies, projects based on public-private partnerships, etc. Support for these projects (on the principles of permitted state aid) should be based on the EU energy package - "Clean Energy4All".

 

What?


The setting of decarbonization goals and the plan for their realization according to the NECP methodology are specific for each country. At the same time, each country should strive to contribute to the EU goals according to its capacities (institutional and economic development) and potential for decarbonization: carbon neutrality in the electric power sector (EES) by 2040 at the latest and climate neutrality of the energy sector by 2050. Therefore, the first phase of decarbonization of each country represents a snapshot (SWOT analysis) of the energy sector. In order to systematize the implementation of the process of SWOT analysis from the aspect of "state readiness" for decarbonization, as well as to establish a system of continuous monitoring (surveillance) of progress in the readiness and efficiency of the implementation of decarbonization, the development of the tool/methodology "Barometer of sustainable energy transition" is planned.
The goals of creating the Sustainable Energy Transition Barometer are:
• Establish a tool for continuous monitoring of states' readiness and their efficiency in implementing energy transition programs and projects.
• Form a representative sample for researching the views of the professional, expert and academic community, private investors and non-governmental organizations on the readiness of states (institutions, industry, private actors and citizens) to implement decarbonisation.
• Promotion of sustainable energy transition and dissemination of research results by means of an accompanying report.
In addition to monitoring the "progress" of countries in building capacity and efficiency in implementing the decarbonization process, the goals of the Barometer are:
• Identification of best practices;
• Systematization of regional aspects of ET;
• Identification of areas that are critical for the realization of the decarbonization process, and which are specific for each country.

Barometer results

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia are not ready to successfully manage the energy transition, so they are threatened by a chaotic state of "perfect storm", when transition processes cannot be managed, with unfathomable socioeconomic consequences, the report states. Barometer of states' readiness for a sustainable energy transition" with the title "Perfect storm - uncontrolled decarbonization of the Western Balkans power sector".
The "Barometer of States' Readiness for a Sustainable Energy Transition" gives a cross-section of the situation in BiH, Montenegro and Serbia based on research in which 126 representatives of governments, ministries, parliaments, then state regulators, electricity companies, as well as private companies, the academic community, expressed their views. non-governmental organizations.

The research was carried out in 2021 by the think-tank organizations NERDA, ASOR and CLEAR as part of the REPCONS 2.0 project, which is a continuation of the REPCONS project. The authors of the Report are Mirza Kušljugić, professor from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Tuzla, Nikola Rajaković, professor from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Belgrade, Damir Miljević, consultant in the field of energy transition from Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Miroslav Vujnović, financial consultant from Serbia.