South Eastern Europe - Overview.

On 1 January 2007 the European Union of 25 countries became the EU27 with the entry of Romania and Bulgaria. There are several countries waiting in the wings for EU membership - Croatia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Turkey.

Although the general political framework varies significantly from country to country, in the field of renewable energy policy , a major influence is the process of EU enlargement. Croatia has started its accession negotiations and FYROM is a candidate country.

In South Eastern Europe there are also the potential EU candidate countries – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia. Bosnia and Herzegovina, has clearly stated that it wants to adapt its legislation in line with EU requirements.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has reported estimates for wind potential for Romania 3GW and for Bulgaria 3.4GW. Many South Eastern European countries also have very large biomass potential for producing electricity, for example Bulgaria 3.5GW.

In 2004 Croatia got 16.7% of its energy from renewables, and it’s looking to expand- it’s adopted a Feed-In Tariff scheme. Its wind potential has been put at 1.3 GW.

Turkey has a huge potential wind resource - put at 10GW- and an even larger geothermal potential.

Bosnia and Herzegovina got 15.2% of its energy from renewables in 2003. For these countries, Joint Implementation (JI) schemes are one option, with the EU earning carbon credits.

So what are the prospects for the future?

The big hope is that, under the right conditions, renewables could develop as much in the East as in the West- or maybe even more. The reality is more complex. There are many obstacles - technical, financial and institutional.

The renewable energy in these countries is mostly electricity from large hydro plants and heat from traditional biomass. As in many of the new EU countries, renewables such as of wind turbines and photovoltaics are rare and their share in electricity production small. But the potential for expansion is significant, and the new EU policy may stimulate rapid growth.