Trebinje, March 2024 - Committee representative Tomislav Micovic, General Secretary of the UNKS participated in the SET Trebinje, which was held from 20-22. March this year.
In the organization of Elektroprivreda Republika Srpska and the City of Trebinje, two-day expert discussions were held on panels, which were predominantly dedicated to the challenges faced by the production, transmission and distribution of electricity after the introduction of renewable energy sources and the increase in the share of that energy in the total production of the countries of the Western Balkans.
The interconnection of power systems was discussed, as a response to the new requirements of the energy and climate policies of the countries of the Region. It was concluded that in order to speed up the energy transition, the development of power networks, real-time monitoring and the introduction of intelligent management of transmission and distribution networks must take place in parallel with the integration of RES, and even better precede it.
The role of active customers, aggregators and storage of electricity in the development of the market was especially pointed out, and experiences were exchanged in general about access, but also specifically about the provisions that should be contained in contracts on the purchase of electricity from RES.
Several dynamic discussions were devoted to prosumers, i.e. buyers-producers. A special topic was dedicated to the method of calculating and paying VAT on the energy that the customer, the producer, produces and later takes from the network. It turned out to be a problem that appeared in most countries after the conclusion of the first supply contracts with this category of consumers, but which is also quickly and easily overcome. It was also stated that in most countries of the region there is appropriate regulation, but that the potential of energy communities is not sufficiently used.
Cybersecurity in the energy industry is a topic that attracted a lot of attention from all participants and will be dealt with in a special way at the next Energy Summit in Trebinje.
The only topic that had a certain departure from the power industry was discussed at the panel on the role of natural gas in the energy transition process. According to the conclusion of the panelists, natural gas is imposed as the most rational transition fuel in the decarbonization process. Because it is a fuel that can respond very quickly and efficiently to dynamic changes in the market's needs for both heat and electricity. This has been confirmed by the experience of using gas power plants. It was pointed out that greater reliance on natural gas must be accompanied by greater security of supply, which is primarily achieved by building interstate interconnections and increasing the number of available sources of natural gas.
The organizer of the SET-2024 Summit managed to bring together really competent panelists from the countries of the Region, as well as representatives of important manufacturers of electrical power equipment, banks and other economic organizations.
The program and names of panel participants are available on the Summit website https://setrebinje.com/en/home/
