The Millennium Challenge Corporation of the US Government and the Government of Kosovo have launched the implementation of the compact program, which is focused on providing clean energy solutions.
The program, which according to the American ambassador to Kosovo, Jeff Hovenier, is the only one in Europe that MCC has, is worth 236.7 million dollars. Of this value, 202 million are from the MCC and another 34.7 million are the contribution of the Government of Kosovo.
“This program will build places for energy storage or batteries for energy storage. This storage system will help in the transition, it will enable the integration of renewable energy and will allow Kosovo to better manage its spending power”, Hovenier said at the program’s launch ceremony.
The compacts, he said, are five-year grants issued by MCC that meet eligibility criteria for such programs.
He said that with this program he expects to transform the energy sector in Kosovo.
Meanwhile, the prime minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, said that this is the biggest investment made in the last decades in the energy sector of Kosovo.
“We share with MCC its core values: a results-oriented approach with transparency, accountability and country ownership at the center,” said Kurti.
Meanwhile, MCC Vice President for Compact Operations Department, Cameron Alford, who was present at the launch ceremony said that the compact will serve as “the cornerstone of Kosovo’s transition towards green energy, increasing the country’s energy security and promoting its socio-economic transformation”.
According to the Government of Kosovo, the MCC compact aims to introduce an advanced energy storage system to create reliable sources, renewable energy sources that will be integrated into the Kosovo network and reducing the need for energy to be produced from coal, writes Radio Free Europe.
The Kosovar executive said that by the end of 2027, Kosovo is expected to have the largest battery capacity in the world per capita.
In 2022, Kosovo had reached an agreement with the MCC for the compact program. According to the agreement, the key project of this program is energy conservation. Through it, Kosovo will have energy reserves through high capacity batteries of 170 megawatts. These batteries will make it possible to provide reserves of about 347 megawatts per hour.
Kosovo produces most of its energy through the burning of coal. According to the Energy Strategy, which the Assembly of Kosovo approved in March 2023, Kosovo aims to generate 35 percent of its energy needs from renewable energy by 2031.
The strategy also envisages that coal will be completely phased out by 2050.
