Bosnia and Herzegovina’s renewable push speed up – Focus
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s renewable push speed up: it’s a pivotal moment in its energy transition
Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH) is accelerating its shift to renewable energy, propelled by European Union (EU) decarbonisation requirements and the need to diversify supply. Yet the slow transposition of the European Union acquis and the absence of an organised electricity exchange remain major bottlenecks to a fully functioning market, according to the State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC).
In 2024
about 14.5 TWh of electricity was generated in BIH – an 8 % year-on-year decline – caused by poor hydrology curbed output from dams. Coal remained the dominant source, accounting for roughly 60 % of total generation, while hydropower contributed about 33 %. Other renewables – mainly solar and wind – supplied close to 7 % (solar 4 %, wind 3 %). Despite the weaker year, the country remained a power exporter.
During 2025
regulatory upgrades have strengthened system flexibility. Amendments to market rules and the grid code have established a framework for integrating energy storage, while BIH’s balancing market model continued to underpin reliability and renewable integration, areas in which SERC’s regulatory leadership has been pivotal.
Solar surges
Solar capacity tripled in 2024, reaching 608 MW by yearend, including 235 MW connected to the transmission grid. The recently introduced virtual power plant (VPP) model – enabling small producers to aggregate at least 1 MW across technologies and sell into the wholesale market – has catalysed investment; six VPPs are now registered with the system operator NOS BIH. Even so, household and small-business prosumers are not fully operational, held back by legal, administrative and technical hurdles. Meanwhile, higher enduser prices and cheaper photovoltaic (PV) equipment are driving self-consumption projects, whose combined capacity is estimated at roughly 30 MW. Momentum is set to carry into 2025, with installed solar projected expecting to exceed 1 GW.
Wind gathers pace
Wind development has been steady, particularly in Herzegovina’s favourable corridors. By the end of 2024, four winds farms were operating with a combined capacity of 218.6 MW. With the 25 MW Wind Park Ivan Sedlo, commissioned in early 2025, total wind capacity rose to 243.6 MW – making it the second largest in the Western Balkans Six countries, after Serbia. The current sites also include Ivovik (84 MW), Jelovača (36 MW), Mesihovina (50.6 MW) and Podveležje (48 MW).
Mind the gap with the EU
Altogether, solar and wind amount to 826 MW, 16 % of total installed capacity, equivalent to around 0.25 kW per person, roughly four times below the EU average. Closing that gap will require faster policy implementation and accelerated market development.
Carbon costs on the horizon
The implementation of the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, along with eventual alignment with the EU Emissions Trading System poses economic risks for BIH’s coal-heavy exports. Without a faster transition to cleaner generation, carbon costs could erode industrial competitiveness and pressure stateowned utilities. Redirecting potential carbon revenues into renewables, grid upgrades and energy efficiency measures could help mitigate these risks and strengthen resilience.
The bottom line
Bosnia and Herzegovina stands at a pivotal juncture: renewable energy deployment, especially solar, is accelerating rapidly, and market rules have been developed to accommodate storage and aggregation. To sustain this momentum, the country has to establish and strengthen key market institutions and align its regulations with EU standards.
For more detailed information, look at SERC 2024 annual report available on www.derk.ba.