Global Issues
bal: In a New Search for Alternative Energy
The gas crisis has unleashed new interest in turning to alternative energy sources in the Balkans.
'Around the world, the use of electricity generated by wind is growing 20 percent annually,' Bojan Kovacic from the Serbian Agency for Energy Efficiency told IPS. 'Serbia has widely unused potential here, and for a start we are counting on seven percent of electricity production coming from this resource. In a couple of years, most modern turbines could double this production, thus helping the overall production of electricity.'
The most promising area is Negotin, some 250 km south-east of Belgrade. An internationally sponsored study, the 'Atlas of Energy Potential of Sun and Wind in Serbia' has pinpointed another dozen potentially good regions in Serbia for tapping solar and wind energy. The first wind-generated turbine is expected to begin production by the end of next year near Negotin.
A United Nations Development Project (UNDP) study titled 'Energy in the Western Balkans' says energy use in the region is unsustainable; consumption per square metre is 2.5 times higher than the European average, and in a quarter of households the amount of heated space per person is beyond minimal health standards.
At the same time, more than half the population uses coal and wood as major sources of energy, creating unhealthy indoor pollution, which leads to chronic illnesses. Mortality rises 30 percent in the winter months in Serbia, the study adds.
The study called on the Balkans nations to introduce wider use of alternative energy resources and to stimulate measures for controlled energy consumption, with less wastage.
The call to turn to alternative energy is growing also in neighbouring Croatia. A group of NGOs declared after a meeting over the weekend that 'Croatia should have stimulated the development, production and consumption of bio-fuels, which could have covered 10 percent of gas needs.'
The nation has enough untended fields that could be used for bio-fuel production, which could 'ease the dependence on imported gas at least to some extent.'
Meanwhile, in Serbia, there is a new demand to re-assess policy towards Russia. 'The first who sent gas to Serbia at the time of crisis were other nations -- Austria, Germany and Hungary, and that saved us,' Sonja Liht, head of the Foreign Policy Council at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Radio B92.
For several days now, the three countries have been meeting half of Serbian gas needs, which has brought the situation to nearly normal.
Russia and Serbia have often been called traditional allies, for the Christian Orthodox religion they share, and for Russia's political support to Serbia when in dire need.
But recent developments show that the idyll exists only on the surface. Many Serbs were freezing on Orthodox Christmas Eve Jan. 6, after Russian gas supplies to the Balkans ceased. This was only two weeks after the company Oil Industry of Serbia (NIS) was bought by the Russian company Gazprom for what is widely considered an undervalued 600 million dollars. NIS is also responsible for gas supplies of Serbia.
On Orthodox Christmas day (Jan. 7), the Russian flag was burnt in public in the central Serbian town Kragujevac, where some 17,000 households had to go without gas with the outside temperature at minus 12C.
'We paid 4,000 euros (6,000 dollars) last year for the gas installation in our house, believing what the state said that with the NIS sale our energy problems will be solved,' said Radovan Mirkovic (32). 'We're freezing now. That amount of money would be enough for ten winters if we used wood or coal.'
'This gas shock puts under question the whole strategy of Serbia relying on Russia,' analyst Dimitrije Boarov told IPS. 'It also supports the argument of critics who said Serbia should not have become dependent on Russian gas so much.'
Economist Stojan Stamenkovic dubbed the NIS deal 'a catastrophe' and the 'worst ever' in the privatisation that has been going on for eight years now. Another expert, Miroslav Prokopijevic, told Belgrade B92 radio that 'the sale of NIS simply turned Serbia into a hostage.'
The pro-government Politika daily said Serbia needs to be careful now, in the face of reports that Russians are keen to buy the Serbian company Electricity Production System (EPS). 'There is an old proverb which says 'Don't put two eggs in the same basket, they might break.' The officials should think about it.'
© Inter Press Service (2009) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service