Energy: the Balkan Energy School launches in 2022
Milan, 16 December 2021 – The Balkan Energy School (BES), conceived to strengthen the energy regulatory authorities in the Western Balkans, will be launched in 2022. The announcement was made this morning at the final conference of the KEP (Know-How Exchange Programme) project, launched with the same aims by ARERA in 2018 and co-financed by the CEI (Central European Initiative). The results of the KEP project, its contribution towards integration between the European and Balkan energy markets and the role played by the Regulators in Albania, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia to promote this process were presented during the online conference. “Four years of intense work on the project have confirmed that cooperation can improve market integration through effective capacity-building activities,” said Stefano Saglia, member of the ARERA Board, during the opening greetings. “The experiences of exchange of know-how such as the KEP project foster the creation of a common context among the regulators of the European Union and the Energy Community, paving the way for long-term cooperation,” said Clara Poletti, Chair of the Board of Regulators at ACER and member of the ARERA Board, “and the Balkan Energy School will promote close cooperation among all the existing platforms that promote the transfer of knowledge in the energy sector.”
The project, launched by ARERA within the programme InCe / EBRD (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development) – at the request of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI) and the Central European Initiative (CEI) – envisaged cooperation with Balkan regulators through the organization of technical seminars focused on how to implement market coupling mechanisms, useful for promoting the creation of a regional electricity market and its integration with the single European market (within the framework of the Western Balkans 6 Process). The project started in 2018 till present by means of specific ARERA resolutions, periodic meetings in different countries and online activities during the pandemic emergency. The final phase of the project focused on the concrete measures that Balkan regulators will have to implement to address future challenges related to the energy transition and to comply with the relevant EU regulatory framework.