On June 27, 2019, Kosovo Civil Society Consortium for Sustainable Development, KOSID, held a press conference at Europe House in front of an audience partly made up of new members of the consortium. Included on the panel were Dajana Berisha and Jeta Xharra, the co-founders of KOSID, Ellen Frank Lajçi, Executive Director of the Environmentally Responsible Action Group, ERA, as well as a member of KOSID, and Yllka Agusholli, a KOSID activist.
At the press conference, the second letter[1] that KOSID have sent to the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, OPIC, was presented. The letter urged the Corporation not to finance the construction of a third coal powered plant in Kosovo, “Kosova e Re”, and stated that if OPIC were to support constructing the “Kosova e Re” power plant, it would be in violation of OPIC and Development Finance Corporation policies, which encourage supporting renewable energy sources.
The letter follows the World Bank’s withdrawal[2] from financing the Kosova e Re project, which is a danger to Kosovo’s environment and its people.
In March 2019, two representatives from ContourGlobal stated in a meeting with the Kosovo government that the company was attempting to secure a 400 million euro loan from OPIC in order to build the plant. KOSID immediately mobilized its forces and started researching the conditions that would have to be fulfilled in order for OPIC to provide a loan for the project.
On March 14, 2019, KOSID sent its first letter to OPIC[3]. Based on the principles, laws and regulations on which the Corporation was established, KOSID outlined why OPIC should not support the construction of a third power plant using the most damaging coal possible, lignite.
OPIC operates within the mandate of the US Congress, which favours investments in renewable sources and has regulated that OPIC also gives preferential treatment to investments in clean energy. According to the Build Act, which passed Congress in October 2018, OPIC is obliged to assess locations where investments are foreseen in order to ascertain whether there are capacities to produce alternative sources of energy. Investment is not permitted without such an assessment.
BIRN Kosovo’s Executive Director Jeta Xharra told the press conference that OPIC, as an institution accountable to the US Congress, should focus its policies in Kosovo on renewable energy.
“We know that OPIC has not conducted its review into alternative sources of renewable energy in order to invest in Kosovo, so we invite them to come to Kosovo and look into the amazing opportunities that exist here in terms of investment in alternative energy,” Xharra said. “We have more sun than Germany, and we have wind and geothermal potential for those who want Kosovo to do good by investing in green energy.”
The letter adds that “Kosova e Re” is not economically sustainable and would impose substantial macroeconomic and development risks for the country, and for the government of Kosovo.
Haki Abazi, a co-founder of KOSID, said that Kosovo is in a crucial stage in its development in terms of changing the direction of energy development in the country.
“The institutions and government all worked towards and insisted that Kosovo proceed with coal, whereas us at KOSID, supported by experts and organisations from Europe, the USA and from across the world, we refused to accept coal as the solution and we demanded investments be made in sustainable development, through increased capacities of renewable energy, efficiency and a functional interconnection line with Albania,” Abazi said.
Dajana Berisha, co-founder of KOSID said that the displacement of the local population in the location where the building of the power plant is foreseen is entirely unfair.
“No foreign investor would invest in a project for a new coal power plant that lacks a wide public consensus,” Berisha said. “If the people do not want such a project, it is impossible for it to be funded by foreign investors. This project does not even bring development, while it displaces about 7,000 local residents.”
Detailed discussions of the conference may be seen at the following link: https://www.facebook.com/kallxo/videos/1547155668752897/UzpfSTEzNDgxNDM2NTg2ODU3NDA6MTM0OTc4NzYwMTg1NDY3OQ/
You can read the first letter here.
You can read the second letter here.
You can read the third letter here.
