Morača without hydropower plants

Posted on 20 March 2019

Montenegro will have to give up the construction of hydropower plants on the Moraca River, because these projects have been deleted from the list of potential new opportunities (Greenfield projects which do not face serious bottlenecks) and despite the demands of various investors to finance these projects, the European Union and its financial institutions will not allow this. Deleting HE projects from the priority list and putting them in the category "Greenfield projects which face serious bottlenecks (e.g. litigations) or environmental and social concerns " is one of the positive results of the WWF and other national and international organizations that have been achieved at the Senior Official Meeting of the Ministries of Energy and of Environment on “Clean Energy Transition in the Western Balkans” , held on February 21 in Podgorica.

On above mentioned conference, Ministers of the Western Balkan countries signed a joint statement pledging to switch to clean energy in the region. This confirmed the ambition to foster decarbonisation, renewable energy and energy efficiency, which will strengthen the Western Balkans' path towards the European Union. This has been achieved thanks to the cooperation with all relevant stakeholders such as the Energy Community, civil society organizations and international financial institutions.
Energy and environment ministers of the countries of the Western Balkans agreed to comply with the energy and climate policies and EU goals as soon as possible.

Political commitment at such a high level should ease the intention of the Western Balkan countries to reduce their energy dependence and solve the problem of unsustainable energy use. This will require the development of sustainable energy sources such as renewable energy sources and a decisive action aimed at supporting energy efficiency.

Morača river, Montenegro