March 2023 – December 2023
To achieve decarbonization of the energy sector countries need to develop enabling frameworks in which renewable energy will be deployed on a scale that enables functioning and development of the societies. Development of this framework requires informed policy discussions.
To initiate and steer the discussion RES Foundation will undertake a research and coordination intensive project that aims to supply high quality, diligently verified information to public policy dialogue on possible biomass use in the selected countries of the Western Balkans. The information will be clustered around different sub-topics that will be digested also in the form of separate policy briefs. Final product of the project will be prepared in the form of public policy platform providing for summary of most relevant findings and identified avenues for future work. The platform will be presented and discussed in the conference with the major stakeholders form different sectors from the region and across the globe. It will also be instrumental for preparation of public policy documents such as NECPs of Low carbon development strategies. RES will seek coordination of the project activities with all relevant initiatives in the region, EU and globally. RES has conducted a preparatory stage in which initial consultations already took place to assess feasibility and credibility of the proposed activities. The main inputs to the project results will be RES foundation staff with a limited external support.
To achieve those results, we propose to conduct the following activities:
- Desk research on legal, institutional and policy framework in the WB relevant for energy use of woody biomass.
- Desk research on data availability and data quality relevant for woody biomass.
- Design and publication of policy brief on institutional framework, policy framework, data quality and availability.
- Research on the most recent renewable energy policy at EU level with focus on sustainability criteria of biomass use for power and heat production.
- Design and publication of policy brief on implications of latest EU renewable energy legislation for the selected WB countries.
- Desk research from secondary and primary sources on lessons learned from operation of the largest biomass to power projects in the world.
- Design and publication of policy brief on main challenges of operational plants.
- Preparation and publishing of the woody biomass energy use policy platform for decision makers in the Western Balkans based on existing research.
- Preparation and organisation of online biomass policy conference. The conference format may be switched to hybrid should demand from the stakeholders arises and is matched by other resources.
