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The Montenegrin coal power plant Pljevlja should be shut down by 2041, according to the draft National Energy and Climate Plan.

The Ministry of Energy of Montenegro prepared and submitted the draft NECP to the Energy Community Secretariat for a review, Minister of Energy Saša Mujović said, as reported by Vijesti.

He pointed out that Montenegro needs EUR 1.1 billion to achieve all the goals set in NECP. It is a heavy financial burden for the government and makes 2030 goals unachievable, so it is asking for its obligations to be eased.

The Ministry of Energy has officially asked the secretariat in August to reconsider Montenegro’s 2030 climate and energy goals.

Electricity prices must reach 16-17 euro cents per kilowatt-hour

Montenegro is obliged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55% to 2,400 kilotons of carbon dioxide equivalent, which means introducing strict measures in the electricity and transport sectors. It is necessary to build many renewable electricity plants, introduce electric cars, modernize public transport, and introduce a mandatory share of biofuels, the minister added.

Mujović explained that Montenegro suggested the 2041 deadline for TPP Pljevlja to secure time to install new power plants.

He announced that by the end of the year, the government would determine subsidies for the electricity sector to prevent price increases. However, according to Mujović, the price of electricity must rise by 2027 toward the EU average, which is 27-28 euro cents per kilowatt-hour.

The current price is around ten euro cents.

The price will increase to 16-17 euro cents and reach Croatia’s average, Mujović estimated, adding that socially vulnerable categories would be assisted.

The authorities have prepared a solution for the second cable of the submarine power link

The Ministry of Energy and the Montenegrin TSO CGES have prepared the final solution to unblock the laying of the second cable of the submarine power link between Montenegro and Italy, with a capacity of 1,000 MW. The project part of the Trans-Balkan Electricity Corridor.

He failed to reveal the details but promised that the issue would be solved by the end of the year.

Two major obstacles are the legal status of properties along the corridor route and the planning documentation for the Pljevlja – Bajina Bašta transmission line.

He recalled that a feasibility study is underway for electricity storage projects. The locations are within hydropower plant Perućica, the former Željezara Nikšić steel plant and the Pljevlja coal mine.

Croatia has prepared subsidies in the amount of EUR 5 million for climate action projects for municipal authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Green Transition issued a call for awarding funds for climate change mitigation and adaptation projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

It allocated EUR 5 million for the subsidies. Eligible measures were defined in a plan for the use of funds obtained from the sale of greenhouse gas emission allowances at Croatia’s auctions from 2021 to 2025.

The public call is open for the following local authorities and public institutions that they founded:

• West Herzegovina Canton
• Canton 10
• Posavina Canton
• Herzegovina-Neretva Canton
• Central Bosnia Canton
• Zenica-Doboj Canton
• Tuzla Canton
• Sarajevo Canton
• City of Banja Luka
• City of Derventa
• City of Prijedor
• Municipality of Brod
• Brčko District

The Croatian ministry intends to subsidize a total of nine activities. The grants are intended for municipal and cantonal authorities to draft action plans for climate neutrality and adaptation to climate change.

Potential beneficiaries can apply for energy renovation. The funds are for works such as the insulation of buildings and replacement of windows and doors, internal lighting upgrades and the installation of photovoltaic systems, heating and cooling systems, boilers and heat pumps, according to the public call.

Municipalities and public institutions can also receive money for installing electric vehicle chargers and replacing old vehicles that run on fossil fuels with electric ones.

The call is open until February 16. Additional information can be obtained from the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Green Transition.

Author: Dr. Eng. Alexandru Muresan/Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Renergia, and EUSEW Young Energy Ambassador

As the EU and its member states make significant investments in green technologies and infrastructure, it is imperative to address the human element of this transition. There is a pressing need for a specialized workforce, and many countries are already experiencing shortages in key areas. At the same time, the success of the Green Deal depends on the ability of citizens to understand and adopt new technologies and practices.

Climate change can be regarded as a disruptive “black swan” event, compelling the allocation of substantial financial resources for investments in renewable energy sources, advanced energy infrastructure, energy storage solutions, hydrogen-based technologies, energy efficiency, and other sustainable innovations. However, I propose examining this situation from a different perspective—one that merges social, civic, and professional dimensions.

Many EU Member States have implemented support programs to encourage the adoption of renewable energy systems in residential and commercial sectors, leading to a significant increase in the number of prosumers. However, even if they are not always aware of their lack of energy literacy, a considerable share of the consumers of this new renewable capacity (including some prosumers) do fully understand how their behavior impacts the grid or the potential benefits of their choices in the energy system.

This phenomenon observed among the general population can be linked to the Dunning-Kruger effect—the tendency to overestimate one’s understanding of the complex implications of the energy system. This is unsurprising, considering that energy infrastructure and market dynamics require advanced technical and economic knowledge, which is often inaccessible to individuals outside these fields.

Based on the scientific foundation of this idea, another phenomenon with profound societal implications has emerged in public discourse: the artificial conversion of opinions into knowledge (pseudo-knowledge). This phenomenon underscores the importance of equipping citizens with the tools and resources needed to make informed decisions, particularly in areas like energy policy, where public opinion increasingly influences regulatory outcomes.

This calls for a deliberate effort to enhance individual capacity to engage with complex topics, including re-skilling initiatives and adapted educational programs that enable citizens to grasp the intricacies of technological and economic systems altogether. Addressing the need for informed decision-making is not solely an intellectual endeavor but a fundamental step toward cultivating a knowledgeable and adaptable society equipped to navigate the complexities of a rapidly evolving energy sector, where all of us must play an active role.

The fundamental question arises: what is the gap between the pace of technological advancement and the average level of energy literacy within civil society?

To address these issues, I, as an EUSEW Young Energy Ambassador,  recommend central and regional authorities make education a cornerstone of the European Green Deal. This could be done by launching the program: The Green Deal Education Initiative – Education First. This initiative would support educational institutions—schools, high schools, universities, and parent associations—in adapting existing curricula and creating new educational subjects centered on the green transition.

While I fully understand that the European Union has limited competencies in the field of education and cannot directly change curricula or mandate new subjects. However, it can play a supporting role by collaborating with Member States and their Education Ministries. The EU’s role should involve scaling up existing best practices, facilitating knowledge-sharing platforms, and providing financial and technical support to Member States to adapt and enhance their educational frameworks.

For younger generations, education is of paramount importance, as they will become the principal actors in achieving long-term climate goals, and developing sustainable skills and competencies. For users of green technologies, whether it is residential, commercial use, or use by local public authorities, educational programs are vital to maximizing the efficiency of these technologies and facilitating their integration into daily practices.

European Union must support Member States in implementing large-scale educational programs

Furthermore, technical education and vocational training for those working in the production, installation, and maintenance of these technologies are important to ensuring the optimal performance of green technologies across all sectors. In parallel with the investment programs, the European Union must support Member States in implementing large-scale educational programs by providing financial and logistical assistance to universities, research centers, and high schools, thereby ensuring an efficient and sustainable transition for all stakeholders involved.

To unlock a large-scale adoption of green technologies, several practical measures and actions are required. First and foremost, the training of teaching staff is a priority, as educators play a key role in preparing future generations. This would require financial support and continuous professional development programs will enable them to integrate sustainability-related topics into school curricula, equipping young people to face the challenges of the green transition.

Secondly, for the existing workforce, reskilling programs such as Back to School will facilitate the transition to roles within the green economy, providing the competencies required to meet new market demands.

Community involvement through local campaigns and parent associations is essential for reinforcing sustainability values

Lastly, community involvement through local campaigns and parent associations is essential for reinforcing sustainability values and promoting lifelong learning, thereby fostering a culture of sustainability across society. These measures are fundamental to the success of the transition to a green and sustainable future.

The Clean Energy Transition will not happen without taking citizens on board and doing so, requires a historic educational effort. The Green Deal education initiative The Green Deal Education Initiative – Education First has the potential to mark a historic moment in transforming the European educational system, aligning it with the demands of a sustainable future. By prioritizing education, we can cultivate a well-informed and skilled workforce capable of driving the ecological transition and supporting the European Union’s ambitious sustainability goals.

The Back to School Re-skilling Program could be implemented through partnerships with technical universities and high schools to train citizens whose jobs are impacted by the green transition. With financial support from the EU, these programs would offer practical courses to prepare individuals for opportunities in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and sustainable technologies.

This opinion editorial is produced in co-operation with the European Sustainable Energy Week 2025. See ec.europa.eu/eusew for open calls.

The Croatian Ministry of Environmental Protection and Green Transition and the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund (FZOEU) plan to allocate EUR 652 million in subsidies for renewable energy, decarbonization of district heating systems and road traffic and waste management.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Green Transition has published an indicative annual plan for public calls for awarding EUR 651.8 million to firms, local authorities and households in 2025.

It earmarked EUR 526.8 million from the European Union’s Competitiveness and Cohesion Programme 2021-2027, the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and the EU’s Modernisation Fund. FZOEU plans to disburse EUR 125 million. Most of the sum is from EU funds, while only EUR 47 million comes from national sources.

The ministry listed eligible beneficiaries, the amount for each measure and a schedule. It intends to launch 23 public calls, and FZOEU has nine on its calendar.

EUR 160 million is planned for renewable energy in public utilities and decarbonization of district heating

The largest chunks are planned for the production of electricity for renewables for water and waste utilities, and for investment in decarbonization and modernization of district heating systems. The two tenders would be worth EUR 80 million each.

A total of EUR 45 million is allocated for investment in road traffic with zero emissions. The call for grants is for taxi drivers, delivery fleet owners, and car-sharing or bike-sharing services, the plan reads.

Households are eligible for EUR 35 million

Zero-emission vehicles will also be subsidized with favorable loans or leasing schemes for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises to modernize their vehicle fleets. The measure amounts to EUR 44 million.

In the waste management sector, EUR 30 million is intended for the rehabilitation of a location highly polluted by hazardous waste – the Sovjak pit. An equal sum is for the construction and equipment of a facility for processing recyclable waste.

Households are entitled to EUR 35 million. EUR 10 million is available for the installation of solar panels in households. EUR 25 million would be allocated to households at risk of energy poverty, for energy renovation.

The European Union had the cleanest power generation mix ever last year. Emissions were 59% lower than in 1990, while negative prices occurred 1,480 times. The average day-ahead wholesale electricity price in the EU declined by 16% from 2023.

2024 was a year of records for the European power sector, according to Eurelectric’s data. The only not-so-bright side was demand. Power demand didn’t pick up since the crisis, primarily due to low industrial consumption, Eurelectric said.

The EU has closed the year with lower electricity prices on average. In 2024, wholesale day-ahead market prices came down to EUR 82 per MWh from EUR 97 per MWh in 2023.

Investments in renewable electricity generation must be complemented by flexible capacity to balance their variability

The average was even lower – EUR 76 per MWh – up until the last quarter of the year, when a surge in gas prices, high winter demand, scarcity of solar power, and windless days brought power prices up, causing several spikes in Germany, Hungary, Romania and Sweden, to name a few, the organization said.

In parallel, negative prices broke a new record this year as they were registered 17% of the time in at least one bidding zone.

“Eurelectric’s data proves once again that investing in higher renewable generation is the right path for a more competitive and decarbonized economy, but it must be complemented by more firm and flexible capacity to balance their variability, limit reliance on costly fossil fuels and contain price spikes,” Eurelectric’s Policy Director Cillian O’Donoghue said.

The lowest emissions from the EU power sector

2024 marked the lowest emissions from the EU power sector. The annual drop was 13%. Renewables contributed 48% of the EU power generation mix, followed by nuclear, at 24% and fossil fuels at 28% – the lowest share ever.

While nuclear remained the single leading technology in producing power, wind kept its lead over natural gas from the past year, the data showed.

According to O’Donoghue, electrification remains to be the low-hanging fruit to decarbonize the EU. “The more you electrify your energy applications the easier you decarbonize, but demand for electricity is not where it should be today,” he added.

Power demand grew by less than 2% and remains lower than pre-crisis levels

Power demand grew by less than 2% from 2023, but it remained lower than pre-crisis levels. Eurelectric attributes some of the reduction to higher energy efficiency and energy savings. However, it said more than 50% of the decline was caused by industrial slowdown.

In Germany, the industry’s power consumption decreased by 13% in 2023 compared to 2021 and is expected to have sunk further in 2024 since industrial production declined 4% year on year, the organization underlined.

It has praised the Clean Industrial Deal as the ideal opportunity to provide new incentives to electrify, such as creating an electrification bank, electrification accelerated areas and de-risking mechanisms for long-term power purchase agreements.

The European Commission has proposed four carbon pricing design options to the contracting parties of the Energy Community – regional market under an emissions trading system (ETS), fixed price ETS, carbon tax and integration into the European Union’s ETS, according to the Impact Assessment for the Establishment of a Regional Emission Trading System in the Contracting Parties of the Energy Community Treaty.

The impact assessment for carbon pricing was presented at a meeting of the Energy Community Ministerial Council in Vienna on December 12.

Ministers representing the contracting parties agreed to analyze the report and communicate the preferred carbon pricing policy scenarios to the European Commission and the Energy Community Secretariat before the next, informal meeting of the Ministerial Council, scheduled for mid-2025.

The Energy Community Secretariat expects the scheme adopted by the end of 2025 in the form of an update to the Energy Community Decarbonisation Roadmap.

Cwetsch: We now enter into the political process

Adam Cwetsch, Head of the Green Deal Unit at the secretariat, said the European Commission presented a list of different options to the contracting parties and that it stressed it isn’t imposing any concrete policy model. The contracting parties have demanded for the report not to focus only on a regional ETS but to go broadly to show the pros and cons of each policy model, he said and added that carbon pricing designs could be mixed in different scenarios.

All the scenarios, in his words, have different potential scopes of carbon pricing. “The analytical process as such has been finalized and now we enter into the political process,” Cwetsch told Balkan Green Energy News.

Some countries have declared their positions. For example, Serbia intends to introduce a carbon tax.

“The contracting parties need to take into consideration the future aspect of joining the EU ETS. It means that what they decide here has to bring them to the trajectory to join EU ETS,” Cwetsch stressed.

Four design options and three scenarios

The impact assessment has analyzed four carbon pricing design options: regional market ETS, fixed price ETS, carbon tax and integration into the EU ETS. For example, every option has a different institutional set-up, ambition level and allowance allocation.

The carbon pricing scheme is modeled in three scenarios, differing in sectoral coverage. The study has designed three main policy scenarios that represent alternative options for carbon pricing, according to the executive summary of the Impact Assessment. Policy scenarios introduce alternative options for carbon pricing starting from 2026. All imply a commitment to drive net greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050, according to the presentation.

All three scenarios are compared against a baseline case – status quo

All scenarios are compared against a baseline case, the status quo. It doesn’t include additional carbon pricing policies apart from the ones already enforced by July 2024. The baseline comprises existing policy measures, already in action or announced at the individual level in draft national energy and climate plans (NECPs).

The electricity-only scenario (P1) assumes a single CO2 price for the power sector. It has two pathways: reaching price equivalence with EU ETS by January 1, 2030 (P1A) and a more gradual CO2 price trajectory toward an alignment with EU ETS by 2035 (P1B). The former implies that the electricity sector is exempted from the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) for electricity exports. The P1B scenario entails CBAM costs before 2035, as the CO2 price would be lower than in EU ETS.

Under the CBAM sectors scenario, CO2 pricing would be applied to all sectors

Industrial sectors are not subject to any form of carbon pricing at least until 2030 and therefore bear the full cost of CBAM, similarly to the baseline scenario.

Under the CBAM sectors scenario (P2), CO2 pricing will be applied to all sectors, starting in 2026. It also has two versions: a unified CO2 price for all contracting parties required to reach national climate objectives (P2A) and allocating 50% of the allowances free of charge (P2B) for the transitional period until 2035.

The P2A scenario models a unified CO2 price for all contracting parties with the aim of reaching national climate objectives. The price would be at only 60% of the EU ETS in 2030, inconsistent with the CBAM regulation. The carbon price effectively paid would be deducted from CBAM obligations.

The EU ETS scenario (P3) envisages the integration of contracting parties into the EU ETS by 2030 as part of the broader EU accession process. All contracting parties commit to 2030 climate targets, representing a timely pathway to decarbonization.

Carbon revenues in the period 2026-2035 are estimated at EUR 17 billion to EUR 20 billion in the first scenario, EUR 15 billion to EUR 23 billion in the second one, and EUR 33 billion in P3.

A shift from energy-intensive activities to the production of clean energy fuels and other segments

The report’s authors assessed the impact of the scenarios on CO2 emissions, the power sector, the industrial sector, the cost of power generation, climate targets, gross domestic product, and employment.

Under the baseline scenario, the operation of coal- and lignite-fired plants is extended. The gradual increase in carbon pricing in scenario P2 questions the extension of the operational life of coal power plants and halves their generation by 2030.

EU ETS prices in scenarios P1A and P3 lead to an almost complete replacement of coal by 2035. The results in variant P1B are similar to P2 in 2030, but converge to the results of P1A by 2035.

The impact of carbon pricing on GDP is limited

On average, 2030 electricity generation costs are projected at 13% to 29% above the baseline. They are the highest in scenarios P1A and P3 (29%). P1B and P2A show a mildly lower increase (21%) and variant P2B envisages a rise of 13%, according to the study.

Results at the country level reveal a limited impact of carbon pricing on gross domestic product. It is higher in Kosovo*, Bosnia and Herzegovina (due to higher electricity costs), and Ukraine, with cumulative losses for the period 2025-2040 ranging between 0.4% and 1.7% for the three contracting parties.

Smaller impacts are projected for Albania, Georgia, Moldova, North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia. For example, Serbia gets significant gains from higher investments and from recycling carbon revenues.

The most negatively affected activities are associated with power generation from coal

In most of the countries there is a shift from energy-intensive activities to the production of clean energy fuels and other segments, such as the production of consumer goods, the report reads.

All scenarios see employment gains throughout the projection period for most contracting parties. P1B and P2B score best per contracting party and as a whole. The most negatively affected activities are associated with power generation from coal, notably coal mining.

Overall employment losses from 2030 to 2040 are minimal compared to the baseline, fluctuating between 0.5% and 1.5% across scenarios, according to the report.