MACEDONIA: Promotional Conference on Clean Energy Development in Macedonia

A promotional conference on clean energy development in Macedonia aimed at promoting technologies for renewable energy sources and presenting opportunities for related projects as well as exchanging experiences regarding small hydroelectric plants and solar power stations between Macedonian and Chinese experts.

China's opportunities in terms of technical development and equipment for small hydroelectric power stations and solar collectors were presented at the conference, organised by the Ministry of Economy in cooperation with the Embassy of the People's Republic of China.

The use of renewable energy sources is one of Government's energy priorities and of the Energy Strategy 2030, said Economy Minister Fatmir Besimi addressing the forum.

He noted that in Macedonia, projects were envisaged for building 400 small hydroelectric plants with a capacity of five megawatts each or a total installed power of 250 megawatts.

If all small hydroelectric plants are built, then 1.200 gigawatt hours of electricity will be produced annually from renewable energy sources, said Besimi.
Chinese Ambassador Dong Chunfeng said one of the goals of today's conference was to provide brief overview of China's capacity for technical development and equipment for small hydroelectric plants and solar power stations and to pave the way towards cooperation between companies and relevant sectors from both countries.

In the past few decades, China has made a huge breakthrough in building small hydroelectric plants. Over 45.000 small hydroelectric plants have been built, thus capacity increases annually by 5.000 megawatts. China has a certain advantage regarding exploitation, technology, price and time of delivery ahead of other developed countries. Lately, solar energy in China flourished, said Ambassador Chunfeng.

Macedonia and China have already established cooperation involving the construction of Kozjak hydroelectric station, which is fully equipped with Chinese technology.

Source: www.vlada.mk