Energy Community adopts decision lowering Macedonia’s 2020 renewables target from 28% to 23%

The Energy Community’s Ministerial Council has adopted a decision lowering Macedonia’s 2020 target for the share of renewable energy sources in gross final energy consumption from 28% to 23%.

The decision was adopted as a result of a review of the 2020 renewables target requested by FYR Macedonia due to the revision of the country’s biomass statistics.

The biomass revision was made after a consumption survey and the data was revised backwards to 2009, resulting in a lower 2009 baseline renewables share – 17.2%, compared with 21.9% that was the baseline taken into account during the 2020 renewables target setting in 2012, Barbora Poyner, Communications Officer at the Energy Community Secretariat, said in an emailed response.

18.2% renewables share achieved in 2016

In 2016, FYR Macedonia achieved only an 18.2% share of renewable energy in gross final energy consumption, instead of its 24.6% median trajectory for 2015-2016, according to the Energy Community Secretariat’s latest Annual Implementation Report.

In 2017, the country had a total of 753 MW in renewables capacities, including large hydropower capacities of 585 MW, small hydropower capacities of 107 MW, wind energy capacities of 37 MW, solar energy capacities of 17 MW, and biogas capacities of 7 MW, according to the Ministry of Economy’s data cited by the report.

Macedonia preparing to introduce auctions for renewables

Macedonia’s draft regulations envisage launching tendering procedures with electronic reverse auctions for premiums to be awarded to investors in solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind energy facilities, with the award criterion to be the lowest requested subsidy.

According to Aleksandar Dedinec of USAID, as quoted by Vecer, feed-in tariffs will remain in place for hydropower plants (HPPs) of up to 10 MW, wind farms of up to 50 MW, and biomass and biogas-fired facilities of up to 1 MW, while premiums are envisaged for wind farms of up to 50 MW and PV power stations with an installed capacity of up to 30 MW.