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Author: WeBalkans

EU and EBRD to support transition to solar energy in North Macedonia

Written by WeBalkans on . Posted in News.

Decarbonisation plans in North Macedonia are taking a big leap forward. The European Union is supporting Elektrana na Severna Makedonija (ESM), the state-owned electricity company, to implement a 30 MW photovoltaic (PV) project consisting of 10 MW on a portion of the exhausted coal mine of the Oslomej thermal power plant, and 20 MW adjacent to the Bitola thermal power plant. The EU will provide a €5 million grant funded through the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF). The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is lending €25 million to complement this development.   
Ambassador David Geer, Head of the EU Delegation to North Macedonia said, “We are seeing concrete actions in materialising the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans and in turning the Economic and Investment Plan into reality. The WBIF investment grant and the EBRD Loan, supporting the transformation of Oslomej and Bitola power plants from coal-based to solar energy, represent a clear indication that the country is taking the right steps – moving to green energy, while implementing a socially just transition process. This investment was long overdue, and comes at the right time for North Macedonia, ensuring clean and secure energy supplies.”  
The new solar plants are an extension of the first 10 MW PV plant constructed on the exhausted coal mines in Oslomej and are evidence of the decarbonisation pathway of ESM and of the country. Once operational, the new facilities will produce nearly 48 GWh of electricity a year – enough to power 10,000 homes and replace 44,000 tonnes of CO2 per year. The project will also support ESM’s efforts to regenerate the mine sites that used to supply the thermal power plants with coal.

Keys to 20 apartments handed over to Regional Housing Programme beneficiaries in Bosnia and Herzegovina

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This week, 20 refugee families in Vlasenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina celebrated the receipt of keys to their new apartments built under the Regional Housing Programme (RHP). In addition to the beneficiaries themselves, the event was attended by the representatives of the EU, Government of Republika Srpska and UNHCR.  
Congratulating the beneficiaries, Stefano Ellero, Head of Cooperation at the Delegation of the European Union to Bosnia and Herzegovina noted that the European Union was the largest donor to the RHP, and that without EU support, it would not have been possible to build the building in Vlasenica. These words were echoed by the Prime Minister Višković of the Government of Republika Srpska , who also acknowledged the contribution from the municipality of Vlasenica, which provided the location for the construction of the apartments and the necessary infrastructure.  
The beneficiaries were quick to share their delight. Goran and Daliborka Zoranović, displaced persons from Kladanj, BiH, described their apartment as “beautiful”, while Radenko Belmiš said he was relieved to have received a home for his family of five. On behalf of the beneficiaries, Mr Belmiš thanked all RHP donors who had provided financial resources for the construction of the building. His wife said simply that she had never felt happier in her life.

EU donates 150 metal detectors to the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina

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Together with high-level military officials from the EU Military Committee, the 27 ambassadors of the Political and Security Committee of the European Union donated 150 metal detectors for the Demining Battalion of the Armed Forces of BiH at the end of their visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The metal detectors were given to the Minister of Defence of Bosnia and Herzegovina and are the first items delivered as part of an assistance measure under the European Peace Facility which is worth €10 million, and which will also include 34 transport vehicles and 34 medical vehicles.

 

The EU Peace Facility is a new EU mechanism for building the defence capacity of the EU and the Union’s closest partners. In addition to the assistance measure to enhance and upgrade the capabilities of the Demining Battalion of the BiH Armed Forces, the EU also recently approved an assistance measure worth €6 million to enhance the capacity of the Balkan Medical Taskforce.

 

The ambassadors welcomed Bosnia and Herzegovina’s cooperation with the EU in foreign affairs, security and defence, which is crucial for mutual stability and prosperity and more important than ever in the face of Russia’s unwarranted aggression against Ukraine. The high-level visit included a meeting with the troops and the commander of EUFOR Althea.

Snack production with solar energy

Written by WeBalkans on . Posted in Stories.

A company from BiH has become almost fully energy independent by installing solar panels with EU support.

The Voćar company from Brčko was founded over 30 years ago. In the Bosnian language, the company name means “fruit grower”, and the seeds of the company were sown by Avdo Musić many decades ago. He was one of the biggest plum producers in the region and sold plums and prunes in local markets. In 1989, when socialist Yugoslavia started to liberalise economically, and citizens were allowed to open private companies, his son Meho decided to take the business to the next level and officially registered and opened the Voćar company. Voćar now produces a wide range of snack products, from wafers and cookies to popcorn and peanut butter. The company’s slogan is “For a better taste of life!”.

The company is now run by Avdo’s grandson, Esed Musić. Esed explains that the journey from growing plums to producing snacks was a challenging one. During the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the family lost almost everything, as many other families did, and when the war ended, they had to start almost from scratch. It was when they were starting up again that they thought they could try expanding the range of their products. “At that time there was almost no production in Bosnia and Herzegovina: everything was coming from abroad. Suddenly, there was a big market, and we decided to use this opportunity and focus on substituting imported products,” says Esed.

“Installing a solar panel system on our own would have been a huge financial burden for us. The support of the European Union was indeed essential: it gave us the wind to our backs to continue planning our work and development in the long run.”

Having started with five workers after the war, Voćar now has 60 full-time workers and many outside collaborators who benefit from cooperation with the company. After 30 years, the company produces more than 100 different products offered to clients in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also to the United States, Australia, countries of the European Union, and others.

However, the pandemic had an impact on the operations of the company as on the global economy. Esed says that during the crisis they started to think about how they could seriously cut expenses so they could remain profitable. The first expense that he thought about was their energy bill, but any investment was expensive and it seemed impractical to try and invest in such a thing at such a time.

Nevertheless, in 2021, with the help of the EU-funded EU4AGRI project, a long-held dream came true for the Voćar company, as they were able to invest in a solar panel system that enabled them to meet about 65% of their total electricity needs. “Installing a solar panel system on our own would have been a huge financial burden for us. The support of the European Union was indeed essential: it gave us the wind to our backs to continue planning our work and development in the long run,” says Esed.

“Our products are made with the help of green energy and we are very proud.”

About the project

The EU4AGRI project is a four-year initiative (2020-2024) aimed at modernising the agri-food sector, creating new jobs, as well as retaining existing ones and supporting recovery from the COVID-19 crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The total value of the project, funded by the European Union, is €20.25 million, and it is jointly implemented and co-financed by the Czech Development Agency and the United Nations Development Programme in BiH.

The EU4AGRI project has so far supported BiH farmers and enterprises with 45 investments worth nearly €5.5 million, of which over €3.2 million was financed by the European Union.

“Solar panels were placed on the roof surfaces of our production and storage facilities, which were ideal in terms of location and the shape of the roofs” explains Esed. “Our solar power plant occupies 1000 square meters and produces 150 KW of electricity, which will have a great impact on our energy independence.” The costs of building a solar power plant were about €83,000, of which about €54,000 was provided through the EU4AGRI project and some €29,000 from Voćar.

The added value of this project is the reduction of the company’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by approximately 76%, thus reducing its negative environmental impact. As Esed says, “Our products are made with the help of green energy and we are very proud”.

The results so far have been an incentive for Voćar to meet their electricity needs exclusively from renewables in the coming period. Esed explains, “We have more available roof surfaces that meet the requirements for the installation of a solar power plant and we want to achieve 100% energy independence. In this way, we would further contribute to environmental protection”.

The robotic arm that leads to well-fed fish

Written by WeBalkans on . Posted in Stories.

An EU-supported lab enabled brothers from Montenegro to develop a device for managing the amount and quality of fish food.

Bogdan and Goran Maksimović are brothers from Nikšić in Montenegro. The younger man, Bogdan, is an IT expert while his older brother Goran is an electrician and passionate fisherman. When they joined forces, they created an innovative fish feeder. “Today’s process of feeding fish is rather obsolete: the same as it was 50 years ago. People don’t even know how many fish they have in a pond, let alone how much food they require, so we devised a system which can help with saving food, and therefore money,” says Goran.

Goran further explains that having no idea how much food fish need can cause also other problems as excessive food can pollute water and lead to the death of the fish. “Now, all these problems are solved,” Goran says. The fish feeder device he designed with his brother can be used to programme and monitor how much food is given to fish. Based on that information, the device can also calculate how much food they need per day. The machine runs with a solar panel, so it is energy efficient and mobile, and can be used in ponds in distant places such as high mountains.

“We had to introduce and explain from scratch concepts such as innovation, start-ups and technology. But we managed to create a kind of epicentre of good energy, ideas, projects and abilities, and we are very happy about that.”

A place for innovation

The fish feeder device was developed and tested at the Nikšić Tehnopolis Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre, which is a centre for the development of start-up companies and entrepreneurship. Recently, the EU-funded project entitled “Improving infrastructure for research and innovation that can be used to support the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)” supported Tehnopolis in setting up a new industrial design laboratory, a biotechnology laboratory and a data centre. The 3D model for the fish feeder was developed at the industrial design laboratory, which is equipped with the most modern 3D printer, CNC machines and a robotic arm.

Đorđije explains that their target group is very wide and includes young children to middle-aged and older adults, students, start-ups and entrepreneurs, development teams, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, agricultural producers, institutions, investors, local and regional partners and others.

“Currently, about 40 innovators use the data centre, the biotechnology laboratory and the industrial design laboratory at our centre, all funded by the EU.” 

About the project

The EU-funded “Improving infrastructure for Research and Innovation that can be used to support the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)” project supported Tehnopolis with the development of the infrastructure capacities of the biochemical laboratory, the laboratory for industrial design, and the data centre. The project resulted in the creation of an innovative platform to support new services and products in Montenegro, and the competitiveness of existing SMEs, while also helping develop brand new, technology-oriented SMEs. The project’s total budget was €818,000.

So far, Tehnopolis has implemented around 30 projects, of which 16 are still in process. Over 90% of funds for these projects have been provided by the EU, which has supported Tehnopolis with about €4 million through various programmes in the last five years. “Currently, about 40 innovators use the data centre, the biotechnology laboratory and the industrial design laboratory at our centre, all funded by the EU,” says Đorđije.

“We are also developing our human resources to ensure that we have people with the right skills to work with this equipment. This means that in the near future we will be able to provide even greater support to farmers, innovators, and SMEs who want to improve their production process and become competitive on the market,” he concludes.

EU funds technical assistance for the Durrës wastewater management project in Albania

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The Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF) technical assistance for the Durrës wastewater management project was launched on 25 May in Tirana, in the presence of the main stakeholders, including the Durrës Water and Sewerage Utility, the National Agency for Water Supply and Sewerage and Waste Infrastructure, the State Agency for Strategic Programming and Assistance Coordination, and the EU Delegation in Albania, as well as representatives of the WBIF, the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), and Infrastructure Project Facility 11, who will implement the project.  
The project aims to improve the living and coastal environmental conditions of the 350,000 inhabitants in the Durrës region. The project will achieve this aim by separation of the stormwater and sewerage network in the region, reduction of stormwater inflows in the wastewater treatment plant to maximise the wastewater volumes and the biological load of the existing wastewater treatment plant, using it to total capacity, and avoiding bypass during rain. It will improve the quality of surface and underground water bodies in the region and in the Adriatic Sea, thus positively impacting biodiversity (climate change adaptation) and tourism (economic development).  
The wastewater collection networks in Durrës city are old, made of concrete pipelines which are prone to infiltration, lacking proper sloping and often becoming subject to blockages. Most of the sewage collection systems are combined, and collect wastewater together with rainwater. Substantial volumes of wastewater flow to the sea result due to poor connection, wastewater infiltration, and overflows during dry and rainy weather.  
Through the WBIF, the European Union has provided a technical assistance grant of €500,000. The estimated total investment cost of the Durrës Wastewater Management Project is around €40 million and is planned to be financed through an AFD loan and local sources.

Kosovo project among the winners of the 2022 European Heritage Awards

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The European Commission and Europa Nostra have announced the winners of the 2022 European Heritage Awards / Europa Nostra Awards. The annual EU prize for cultural heritage rewards 30 excellent initiatives and outstanding personalities from 18 European countries, representing the latest developments and priorities related to heritage policy and practice in Europe.

  The award categories include conservation and adaptive re-use, research education, training and skills, citizens’ engagement and awareness-raising, and heritage champions.  

This year, the “Lumbardhi Public Again” project from Prizren, Kosovo, was among the winners in the citizens’ engagement and awareness-raising category.  “Lumbardhi Public Again” is an initiative to save the Lumbardhi Cinema from privatisation and demolition, and to reclaim it as a cultural heritage site open to all. The cinema, consisting of indoor screens and an open-air cinema, was built in the 1950s and enjoyed huge popularity in the city of Prizren until the late 1980s. Following their campaigns in 2007 and 2014, the DokuFest and EC Ma Ndryshe civil society organisations launched the Lumbardhi Foundation in 2015. Over the course of seven years, the foundation has achieved its founding aims. Reviving the cinema in collaboration with CHwB Kosovo and a number of local and international partners, including the EU,  through emergency and restorative interventions, has enabled close to 1,000 public programmes reaching out to more than 100,000 users and visitors.

ADRION Programme opens a new call for universities, research centres and business institutions

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The Adriatic-Ionian (ADRION) Programme, working in the Adriatic-Ionian area, has opened a new call targeting universities and research centres, as well as business institutions. The goal of this fifth extraordinary call for proposals is to raise competence and skills in domains considered of strategic relevance for the area, bridging to the new programming period, and sustaining marine/maritime, environmental and social innovation topics.

 

The call focuses on the following topics: the blue economy, social innovation, renewable energy, and the circular economy. It aims to develop preparatory measures for the activation of joint Master’s level programmes to run until 2027. Projects matching the goals of the call should be strategic and will receive grants as part of the 2021-2027 Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) ADRION Programme.

 

Projects proposals will have an EU contribution (European Regional Development Fund and IPAII) up to a maximum of €1 million.

Winners of the Regional Butterfly Innovation Award announced in Tirana

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Regional Butterfly Innovation Awards were given to six winning innovation ideas from the region at a ceremony in Tirana on 28 June.

 

-The winners of the first Regional Butterfly Innovation Awards are:

-Industry Innovation Award: Orjon Rroji, Albania

-University Innovation Award:  TiPy-AIR University of Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina

-Green Innovation Award: GoBeyond, Kosovo

-Youth Innovation Award: GuesTool, Montenegro

-Women’s Innovation Award: WISE Group, North Macedonia

-STEM (science, mathematics, engineering and technology) Innovation Award: BIOIRC, Serbia

 

All winners will get an opportunity to promote their solution through the RCC’s network of contacts and media presence, receive technical mentorship support with €5000 and a chance to meet potential additional investors. The award ceremony, co-organised by the RCC and the European Commission, took place on the side-lines of the Ministerial Meeting of the Western Balkans Steering Platform on Research and Innovation and Education and Training, hosted by the European Commission.

 

The award ceremony is a highlight of a longer process that was officially launched last December during the Butterfly Innovation and Business Forum. The Regional Butterfly Innovation Award is funded by the European Union.

EU and EBRD help Bosnian SMEs to Go Digital

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The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is extending a €5 million loan to ProCredit Bank in Bosnia and Herzegovina, backed by grants from the European Union (EU), under the recently launched Go Digital in Bosnia and Herzegovina programme. The proceeds will be used to help small firms invest in the digitalisation of business processes and to improve productivity, operational efficiency and resilience.

 

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will be able to apply for funds to invest in hardware and software for digital transformation projects in the area of digital communications, information and IT security, digital company management and digital production processes and services. The aim is to boost the digital transformation of SMEs and make them more competitive in EU markets and compliant with the standards required by EU directives.

 

In addition to loans, SMEs will benefit from grant incentives worth up to 15% of the total loan amount. These incentives are funded by the EU.

 

The EU has secured grants of €9 million for incentive payments, advisory services and programme technical assistance for the joint EBRD-EU Go Digital in Bosnia and Herzegovina programme, while the EBRD has secured €40 million in loans. The programme will be accompanied by activities from Germany’s international co-operation agency, GIZ, which will work with the government and stakeholders to help build an ecosystem for digitalisation, automation and innovation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including digital innovation hubs, in line with EU best practices.

 

The programme contributes directly to the European Commission’s Digital Agenda for the Western Balkans, which aims to support the transition of the private sector and help businesses fully secure the benefits of the digital transformation of the economy.