February 15, 2019 - NGO Green Home will organise a public debate on NGOs and media on Wednesday, 20 February, focusing on the plans of four major hydropower plants in Moraca, where representatives of international organisations such as Riverwatch, WWF Adria, Bankwatch and The Nature Conservancy will take part.
The occasion for organising the public debate is the Ministerial Conference on Transition to Sustainable Energy in the Western Balkans, which will present the Draft Regional Strategy for the Development of Hydropower Plants in the Western Balkans, to be held on 21 February in Podgorica.
The Western Balkans Investment Fund developed the Strategy at the request of the Directorate General for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Projects. According to Natasa Kovacevic from NGO Green Home, this plan implies rehabilitation of existing energy facilities as well as investment opportunities in the construction of new hydropower plants.
Natasa Kovacevic explains: "What NGOs are saying is certainly improving the energy efficiency of already existing facilities because we already have ruined rivers, but we can increase the efficiency of the hydropower plants to produce more energy. What we do not agree with is the unconditional promotion of the hydroelectric power plant as unconditional ecological sources of energy."
The importance of this ministerial conference is to present solutions for sustainable development of energy, hydropower, reduced use of fossil fuels, and the approval of the Energy and Environment Ministry's Clean Energy Agreement, which mostly relies on hydropower.
"The Draft Strategy for the Development of Hydropower Plants in the Western Balkans has a list of principles that are well-composed when it comes to sustainability. However, the list of potential projects, called the Green Field List, contains 46 large hydropower plants in the Sava, Neretva, and in Montenegro, in Moraca and Komarnica basins, "explains Natasa Kovacevic.
Non-governmental organisations that will gather in the public debate believe that it is necessary to halt the promotion and financing of hydropower projects as a non-sustainable energy source and to foster an energy transition to the development of low-energy facilities considering the impact on all ecological and social aspects of importance for the society.
