€3.5 billion EU-backed projects in gas-fired power plants, pipelines and liquefied natural gas terminals in the Western Balkans will introduce economic and security risks to the region and challenge the transition energy, according to a study by Global Energy Monitor and Bankwatch. .
In 2021, the six Western Balkan countries – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia – consumed only 3.7 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas , or 4% of what Germany consumed the same year.
But proposals to expand the region’s gas network, backed by the EU and US, would expose the region to the volatile price swings and gas shortages that have plagued much of Europe since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2022.
Pippa Gallop, South East Europe energy advisor at Bankwatch, said: “Fossil gas infrastructure built now will be a liability for the Western Balkans. Either this will increase import dependence and fossil fuel lock-in, or it will eventually become stranded assets. If the EU and its banks have learned a lesson from recent supply problems, they must stop selling fossil gas in the region.”
These warnings come shortly after new warnings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which said no new fossil fuel infrastructure should be built to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius .
Robert Rozansky, research analyst at Global Energy Monitor, said: “Countries around the world are rethinking their plans to import this volatile and dirty fuel amid the global energy crisis. If the Western Balkans move forward with new gas infrastructure, it will only make the transition to clean, domestic and affordable energy more difficult.”
Several large gas projects are underway in the region, including the first two LNG terminals planned, in Montenegro and Albania. The organizations said: “This would increase exposure to a tight and volatile LNG market with over 0.5 billion cubic meters of regasification capacity.”
In addition, 2,715 kilometers of new pipelines are planned to transport gas to the Western Balkans from Greece, Croatia and other neighboring countries.
The region is known for its significant potential for solar and wind energy, a potential that gas infrastructure projects would compromise. It could also introduce new obstacles to EU integration and membership, as it contradicts the provisions of the Energy Community Treaty and the EU’s energy efforts. green.
Currently, the Western Balkans derive much of its energy from hydropower and coal, with the latter looking to phase out. Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia use almost no gas and currently have no import infrastructure.
“As Western Balkan countries grapple with electricity shortages, net-zero emissions ambitions and aspirations to join the EU, building new gas-fired power plants and gas networks would be a step forward. backwards,” the report notes.
(Alice Taylor | Sortie.al)
