Skopje, 30 May 2023 (MIA) — Speaking at Tuesday's MEF 2023 panel on policies and technologies toward decarbonization, Minister of Economy Kreshnik Bekteshi said North Macedonia, like the rest of Europe, felt the negative impact Russia's war against Ukraine had on the energy sector and rising natural gas prices due to the Russian gas supply disruption.

"But despite the energy crisis, we worked hard to transform the country's energy system," Minister Bekteshi said, adding that the government was working on reforms to boost investments in renewable energy sources.

"In recent years only," Bekteshi said, "we have installed capacity of photovoltaic power plants of 110 megawatts, which is almost 100 percent more compared to what had been done since the independence of the country."

"Based on the demand from companies and the Power Plants national energy producer's investments, by the end of the year we will have more than 350 megawatts of installed capacity of photovoltaic power plants," he added.

He also said the business community had requested that electricity produced from renewables by private investors be purchased by Power Plants and the government was considering this request in order "to preserve the hydro potential and other energy sources, such as thermal power plants."

"This way we will be ready for next winter," Bekteshi said, "which is in line with our energy development strategy."

He said North Macedonia was completely dependent on Russian gas, but with the support of the USA and the EU, last year the state secured additional capacities through the gas pipeline with Bulgaria, which had diversified the country's gas supply.

"Now we are starting to prepare for next winter, so we can be more independent from Russian gas. By the end of the year, the construction of the interconnector with Greece will begin, which will enable us to procure gas from TAP and other sources," Bekteshi said.

He also said North Macedonia was working on the implementation of an investment project for the construction of a gas power plant of 600 to 800 megawatts. According to the initial plan, the plant would be built in North Macedonia with all interested regional countries participating in the investment.

"Our plan is to invite our neighbors to participate in this energy project, which will be at the regional level. Our proposal is for it to be in North Macedonia in place of the Negotino thermal plant.

"All regional countries interested in this project, which we plan to begin implementing next year, should participate as stakeholders," Bekteshi said. mr/