The adoption of solar panels for self-consumption is gaining momentum in the Western Balkans. However, Bosnia and Herzegovina is currently falling behind the other five Energy Community contracting parties in the region.
According to the CBAM Readiness Tracker published by the Energy Community Secretariat, it has been noted that North Macedonia possesses the greatest capacity for self-consumption among the contracting parties in the Western Balkans, amounting to 129.7 MW. Similarly, Serbia has been recognized as having the highest number of prosumers, reaching a total of 1,499.
Based on the increased number of new permits, it is likely that North Macedonia will see an improvement in its results. Similarly, Serbia is currently maintaining its pace.
The capacity for self-consumption has greatly increased in all contracting parties, rising from under 1 MW to 282.6 MW compared to a year ago. Similarly, the number of prosumers has seen a significant surge, going up from 911 to 4,872.
The relative increase rates are even higher than those observed in Europe and the rest of the world.
Based on the report, the primary factors are diverse support schemes designed to encourage and facilitate using renewable energy for self-consumption.
The majority of the contracting parties have implemented restrictions on the generation capacity for self-consumers of renewable energy based on the connection capacities of the final customers. This decision has been justified by maintaining stability and reliability in the electricity system, as mentioned in the report.
While net metering schemes, which currently allow households and businesses to offset their electricity consumption with the excess electricity they generate from renewable sources, are still in place, the contracting parties have begun to consider the implementation of net billing.
The authors of the report emphasized that, in accordance with the European Union’s Electricity Directive, it is essential to differentiate between the electricity supplied to the grid and the electricity used from the grid when granting any new rights under the scheme post-December 31, 2026.
Serbia offers a combination of net metering for households and net billing for industries, while Kosovo* and North Macedonia have implemented a net billing scheme specifically for self-consumption.
In relation to BiH, the Republic of Srpska has implemented self-consumption schemes, including net metering for households and net billing for companies. However, the progress of installing rooftop solar power panels is being hindered by an unfavourable value-added tax system. Therefore, Elektroprivreda Republike Srpske, the state-owned power utility, kindly urges the authorities to consider revising the law on the central state level.
According to the report, it states that currently in the Federation of BiH, the country’s other entity, there is no permission granted for consumers to inject excess electricity into the grid, and unfortunately, no advancements have been made in facilitating this practice.
