Virtual Balkan Power Centre for Renewable Energy Sources


By Ms. Elke DALL on Jun 01, 2007
Status: Public

The FP6-project VBPC-RES offers a unique opportunity for networking between research institutions, industrial partners and utilities in the Western Balkan region. VBPC-RES (2005-2007) focuses on the Western Balkans region, where the economic situation is improving only slowly due to the lack of sufficient funds and the general socio-economic conditions. The project’s consortium is made up of 17 members from 11 countries, of which 11 are from EU members and six represent all the Western Balkans countries. Prominent local institutions with strong pro-fessional focus are taking part in the project and contribute to the dissemination of results.

Key challenges of the project are:

  • Building awareness about Renewable Energy Sources (RES) in the region with severe economic problems
  • Defining key steps, technical and regulatory, for the countries in the region to bootstrap the development and foster the efficient use of RES for energy supply
  • Ensuring the transfer of know-how from the EU to beneficiaries and among them

Progress to Date and Highlights of Results

The following work has already been carried out:
In the context of 5th and 6th Balkan Power Conferences, the 1st and the 2nd International RES Seminars were organised in Sofia, Bulgaria, and Ohrid, FYR of Macedonia, respectively. Each drew some 35-40 participants.
The Balkan Power Student Contest was organised in 2005 and 2006, targeting power engineering students younger than 26 in the WB region to promote renewable energy issues among students.

Two Balkan Power Summer Schools took place in 2005 in Bucharest, Romania, and in 2006 in Fojnica, BiH. Invited students who qualified at the Balkan Power Student Contest met to discuss Renewable Energy Sources, contemporary policy issues and technologies.
A Project web portal and documentation of the activities were designed, as were scientific exchange processes.

Future Activities

The project is nearing its final year. The key activities that remain are the local workshops aimed at the dissemination of the project’s pro-ceedings. They are organized each month in another Western Balkan country, and the lecturers are international experts from VBPC partners as well as high profile national experts from the host country. Workshops have already taken place in Tuzla/BiH, Zagreb/Croatia and Skopje/FYR of Macedonia. The next local workshop will take place in Novi Sad/Serbia (May 2007) and in June the final one will be held in Ti-rana/Albania.

Article published in see-science.eu eJournal spring 07.

Related Resources:

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