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Energy seminar in Skopje, Macedonia
On 29 of November 2007, in Skopje, Macedonia Eco-sense and INFORSE Europe organised a seminar for NGOs and Government officials to discuss European Energy Directives and their implementation in Macedonia. This seminar is a part of the project that Eco-sense is implementing together with INFORSE Europe through the European Commission funding. The project in Macedonia has the aim to bring together NGOs and officials to discuss European Directives implementation in the country and to develop a set of recommendations for early actions and improvement of environmental standards in the country. The project will also enable Eco-sense to prepare a publication where the recommendations will be presented, and to distribute the publication to relevant institutions and organisations in Macedonia.
Overview of the seminar
The seminar was organised in order to present the European Directives on energy, Eco-sense’s recommendations to the Government and to give an overview of INFORSE’s 15 year of active work in the field of renewable and energy efficiency, their vision and the global picture regarding EU policies. Presentations given on the seminar were by Eco-sense’s staff Irena Srbinoska, entitled „Comparative analysis between the Law of Energy in the Republic of Macedonia, guidelines and regulations and European Policy- EC Directives related to energy“ and Julijana Daskalov, entitled „Recommendations and conclusions for more effective transposition of the European Directives in Macedonia“. Gunnar Boye Olesen from INFORSE Europe started his presentation with a description of INFORSE, then touched upon issues such as climate change, global warming, fossil fuels and nuclear energy and presented the vision of INFORSE Europe on the CO2 emissions, energy production and renewable energy supply. At the end, the presentation was focused on the European policies on energy and INFORSE’s demands for changes in the policies.
Eco-sense’s recommendations
The recommendations from Eco-sense target many institutions and they go to:
The Government of Macedonia
- To plan strategically the development of the energy sector of Macedonia and to make space for renewable energy and energy efficiency investments, rather than make fast decisions on capital investments in various fossil fuels or energy projects;
- To undertake a special public awareness raising campaign to save energy and invest in renewable energy;
- To take special measures in preserving the climate and stopping climate change by decreasing the CO2 emissions.
The Ministry of economy
- To make sure that the new legislation is according the EU Directives and European Energy Treaty and is complemented with regulations that enable its implementation in reality;
- In the preparation of the new law on energy, to pay special attention to the possibilities for renewable energy production and the connection with the grid, to enable selling of extra energy produced with the renewable sources;
- In the preparation of the new law, to introduce special measures for the socially disabled citizens;
- To make sure that there is a strong commitment to increase the % of biogas used in public transport and so, limit the greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to saving the climate.
The municipalities
- To enable local and foreign investments in renewable energy sources, by providing information and issuing permissions for installations;
- To invest in local biomass plants, or increase light efficiency in the municipality, to insulate the administration and school buildings, to inform the citizens on how to save energy in their own homes.
The Macedonian citizens
- To take serious measures in their households for saving energy, by changing light bulbs, improving insulation and making sure they use less electricity;
- To invest in renewable energy in their houses and install solar panels or small wind turbines.
Participants on the seminar
Five NGOs active in energy related issues were present at the seminar. Other participants included institutions such as: Ministry of economy, Government of Macedonia- Sector for eurointegration, Agency for energy, and business sector: Mepso (energy distributing company), Makstil (metal industry), Terna (construction company), Gama (natural gas distribution company) and Sieto (company for innovative production of energy efficient appliances). The total number of participants was 21.
Discussion
After the presentations, a very lively discussion among the participants followed. The Ministry of economy informed the participants that the new energy legislation in Macedonia is under preparation and that there is also the initiative to prepare the Strategy for renewable energy use in Macedonia. Additionally, it is expected that by early spring 2008, a special regulation on building energy efficiency will be in place and ready to be implemented. An interesting topic for discussion was the use of nuclear energy and the debate was around the stability of renewable energy sources versus the stability of nuclear energy. The representative of Sieto gave a short information about how Macedonia could use EUR 500 million (a sum of money intended for the investment in the Bulgarian NPP) in a solar plant and ensure a long lasting, secure source of energy. Foreign investments were also a topic of the discussion. Feed-in tariffs enable investors to install capacities in the country. Credit lines will soon be available for interested investors. As essential part of the discussion was the need for raising public awareness in order to increase energy saving. Gunnar Boye Olesen gave examples from EU for both stimulating households to save more energy and raise the awareness of the broader audience.
The seminar was considered to be very successful by the participants. They were satisfied by the content, translation provided and requested a follow-up on the topic.
Article prepared by Ana Colovic, Eco-sense