Kosovo Energy

These projects, attempting privatization and rehabilitation of energy generation in the country, have garnered attention from regional and international environmental groups. Criticism has been targeted at the Technical Assistance Project, in part intended to explore the feasibility of construction of a new Bank-funded coal power plant:

KOSOVO’S COAL: A World Bank Legacy
Featuring Nezir Sinani of BIC

There are two World Bank Group (WBG) projects currently active in Kosovo, one on increasing coal-powered energy generation capacity and another focused on privatizing the distribution and supply of electricity.

The first, the Lignite Power Technical Assistance Project, is funded by the IDA branch of the Bank and includes investment and analysis assistance with the goal of rehabilitating existing coal-fueled power plans and working towards constructing a new plant to build lignite power generation capacity. Concerns have been raised by civil society around the social and environmental consequences of the project and failure to adequately consider more sustainable alternatives, as is required under the WBG’s new Energy Strategy. Feasibility studies of new plant construction, funded by the Bank, have already begun to attract international attention and criticism as part of an ongoing debate about Bank support for coal-powered energy production.

The IFC is providing funding for the Kosovo KEK – Advisory Services Project, to assist the Kosovar government in the privatization of KEK, Kosovo’s publicly owned utility, via private sector participation. It is hoped that privatization will solve KEK’s operational and financial problems and increase distribution capacity. On this project, there are concerns that the privatization will be structured in a manner that will discourage competition in the newly-created market, undermining the future effectiveness of privatization. In addition, the number of jobs available in the power sector may decrease, and the failure of the IFC to disclose the project business model has raised concerns that customers may pay more post-privatization.

Kosovar CSOs and NGOs:

Initiative for Sustainable Planning and Energy Efficiency (ISPEE)
Kosovar Institute for Policy Research and Development (KIPRED)
Institute for Advanced Studies (GAP)
Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN)
Forum for Civic Initiative (FCI)
Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR)
Internews Kosova
DokuFest
Prishtina Institute for Political Studies (PIPS)

Documents

Sustainable Energy Options for Kosovo
The World Bank Kosovo Power Project: IDA-16 Gender and Climate Change Commitments Undermined