North Macedonia leads the Western Balkans in the energy transition

The new parliament in North Macedonia will have the primary task of passing the new renewable energy law, which will make the country a leader in the Western Balkans in implementing European energy legislation, according to local media.

Meanwhile, the annual report on the energy situation of North Macedonia, stated that only 2.7% of the required electricity for 2023 was imported and the rest was produced by domestic production facilities. Installed solar and wind farms have a large share of this, with the regulator noting that it expects more financial assistance from the European Commission for countries in the region because the country is complying with European energy rules very efficiently and quickly.

According to the country’s Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), North Macedonia is at a very advanced stage in terms of energy legal solutions. The new law on renewable energy will make the country not only the first in the region, but also much wider. This law is in line with European regulations and the so-called fourth package.

While other countries in the region are preparing this solution and expect that at the end of the year they will have to adopt the law, in North Macedonia this will happen much faster. The new rules of the Renewable Energy Act provide that regulators have stronger obligations, as well as transmission system operators, in relation to the operation of market coupling.

“We expect that the help we receive from the European Commission for the countries of the region will increase, because by implementing European legislation we help the smooth functioning of the electricity and natural gas markets and the member states of the European Union that are our neighbors,” the Energy Regulatory Commission said.

It is an increasingly common practice to merge electricity markets, i.e. to have an electricity market between countries. The markets of Serbia, Hungary and Slovenia are merged, previously there was a merger between Slovenia and Croatia and North Macedonia is in a group with Greece, Albania and Kosovo. In practice, the regulator says the plan is to have a single electricity and gas market in Europe.

As a positive development, the construction of the interconnection with Albania is at an advanced stage, which means that North Macedonia can export electricity to Italy, where prices are much higher and potential profits would be much better, local media added .