Grow Green or Grow Poor

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There is much to be done in terms of better use of existing energy starting from our homes up to reduction of the commercial and technical losses that are in Kosovo currently too high.

2. High cost

As they say it all comes with the territory, in order to build ‘Kosova e Re’ the government would have to face a debt of a billion euro, considering that they are also servicing debt for Sibovc mine and refurbishment of Kosovo B that would lead our economy into trouble.

3.Damage to health

According to the World Bank stats there is an average of 835 pre-mature deaths in Kosovo annually and direct costs of nearly 100milion Euros due to air pollution.

4.Green route

Decrease CO2 emissions, increase renewables and energy efficiency.

Renewable resources refer to energy resources that can quickly refill and be used repeatedly. For this reason they are known as infinite resources and the most popular types of these renewable resources are solar, wind, wave, and hydro energy. Though it has many advantages, the renewable energy remains too costly. This is because of high cost of building renewable generators which also increases costs on the wider electricity grid (The Economist, 2014).

However, I think that the future is without doubt in investing in renewable energy because as earlier mentioned the reserves of fossil fuel are diminishing fast whereas the demand for energy is increasing also fast.

Solar energy – We already know that Kosovo’s climate is dry during the summer and with a high number of sunshine hours in that season, which leads us to believe that there is some slight potential in this renewable energy source. One of the major downsides of this renewable energy source is the high cost required which is a serious challenge for Kosovo’s current level of the economy.

Changing energy use in Kosovo – There is much to be done in terms of better use of existing energy starting from our homes up to reduction of the commercial and technical losses that are in Kosovo currently too high.

But, the best would to replace outdated capacities of energy production and as highlighted by Olters (2014) to further explore opportunities that exist within private and public sector.

We can do that if we consider reducing the demand for energy and increase the supply of renewable energy.

5.Water shortage

This power plant would add more problems considering Kosovo’s water is already polluted and this would only help polluting it more.

6. Resettlement and agricultural land shortagesResettlement is required if we were to build a new power plant. As we know many people that make their living out of farms in Kosovo and If we execute a project into their land we would have to compensate it and we should also be aware that we have a shortage of agriculture land in Kosovo that would complicate the situation even more.

According to the World Bank building this power plant is a way out of poverty and a way to gain energy independence.

Positive side:

Foreign investments are very important for this stage that Kosovo is in, taking in consideration the contractual companies that were proposed to take part in this project such as Siemens, Alstom, General Electric etc. companies that would boost the image of investment in Kosovo and would attract future investors.

Some of the economic effects that this project brings is the increase on aggregate demand where around 10,000 employees are expected to be hired during the building process. Thousands of small companies in the supply chain will join this major project.

The entrance of a new capital would bring a refreshment to our economy growth and would generate more jobs.

According to the World Bank projections by the time that this project is completed Kosovo will have a GDP growth of 50%.

So this project serves as an example when the environment is diminished in order to have economic growth.

Wood Industry

- Investment, K. K. - and Agency, E. S. (2015) Infrastructure - KIESA - Kosovo investment and enterprise support agency. [Online] Available at: http://invest-ks.org/en/Infrastructure [Accessed: 18 Dec. 2015].

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- Anon, (2015). [online] Available at: http://www.undp.org [Accessed 21 Dec. 2015].

- Kosovë, K. (2015). Minierat dhe Energjia në Kosovë - KIESA - Agjencia për Investime dhe Përkrahjen e Ndërmarrjeve në Kosovë. [online] KIESA - Agjencia për Investime dhe Përkrahjen e Ndërmarrjeve në Kosovë. Available at: http://www.invest-ks.org/sq/Minierat-dhe-Energjia-ne-Kosove [Accessed 21 Dec. 2015].

Sq.wikipedia.org, (2015). Minierat e Trepçës. [online] Available at: https://sq.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minierat_e_Trep%C3%A7%C3%ABs [Accessed 21 Dec. 2015].

- Wikipedia, (2015). List of mines in Kosovo. [Online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mines_in_Kosovo [Accessed 21 Dec. 2015].

- www.undp.org, (2015). TAKING ACTION TOGETHER: INDUSTRIAL WASTE MANAGEMENT FOR TREPCA ENTERPRISE. [Online] Available at: http://www.undp.org/content/dam/kosovo/docs/TrepcaConf/TREPCA%20Conf%20Report_Engl.pdf [Accessed 21 Dec. 2015].

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- OLTERS, J.P. (2014) KOSID Workshop on Sustainable Energy Options. [Online] 27th February 2014. Available at: http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/speech/2014/02/27/kosid-workshop-sustainable-energy-options-kosovo [Accessed: 21 Dec 2015].

- The Economist. (2014) Why is renewable energy so expensive? [Online] January 5th 2014. Available at: http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2014/01/economist-explains-0 [Accessed: 19 Dec 2015]

- REPUBLIC OF KOSOVO. (2014) A Policy Solution for the Energy Sector in Kosovo. Kosovo Civil Society Consortium for Sustainable Development. [Online]. Available at: www.indep.info/.../5475_INDEP_A%20policy%20solution%20for%20t... [Accessed: 20 Dec 2015].

- . (2015). Kosova e Re lignite power plant, Kosovo [Online]. Available at: http://bankwatch.org/our-work/projects/kosova-e-re-lignite-power-plant-kosovo. [Accessed: 21 Dec 2015].