Albania

Albanian developments won't impact ČEZ strategy – (Prague Monitor) Albanian operations will not influence strategy of Czech energy group CEZ and the group will now focus on renewable energy sources in Poland and Germany and on nuclear power in the Czech Republic, CEZ board deputy chairman and CFO Martin Novak told CTK…

Czech PM slams Albania grid decision – (UPI) Prague takes a dim view of Albania's decision to revoke the license of Czech utility CEZ to operate its electric grid, Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas says…

Czech PM says Albanian decision on CEZ licence negative for bilateral relations – (Power Engineering) Czech Prime Minster Petr Necas was critical of Albanian energy regulator's decision to revoke the licence of CEZ 's local distribution unit saying the move sends negative signal for the relations between the two countries and casts doubt on the Balkan country's commitment to the rule of law on its route to EU membership, CTK news agency reported…

Energy Community hopes to boost regional markets  -(Setimes) The energy markets in the western Balkan countries are small and fragmented, too vulnerable and outdated to attract international investors…

Project “Powered” promotes construction of wind power plants (Bsanna) TIRANA, January. (ATA). The Steering Committee of energy project POWERED met at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Energy in Tirana on Monday to take stock on the project’s state and discuss strategies on development of alternative energy sources, particularly wind power…

Bulgaria

Bulgarian Energy Watchdog Head Confirms Resignation – (Novinite) The Chairman of the Bulgarian State Commission for Energy and Water Regulation, DKEVR, Angel Semerdzhiev, confirmed Tuesday that he had submitted his resignation…

Low voter turnout defeats Bulgarian energy referendum – (DW) The majority of Bulgarians who went to polling stations voted in favor of the nuclear energy referendum. However, the ballots have been declared invalid due to low voter turnout…

Bulgaria Energy Min: NPP Expansion Better than New NPP – (Novinite) Bulgarian Minister of Economy and Energy Delyan Dobrev voted in Bulgaria's national referendum on nuclear energy Sunday in his native city of Haskovo…

Head of the Energy Regulator Will Be Dismissed – (Public.bg) Bulgarian PM Boiko Borisov will propose tomorrow to the Council of Ministers to approve the request of Angel Semerdzhiev, Chairman of the State Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (SEWRC), to be dismissed of duty…

Nuclear Energy vs. Nuclear Energy – (Novinite) Some media outlets in Bulgaria stated Monday that approximately 60% of Bulgarians voted in favor of the development of nuclear energy in the country…

EU Greens in Bulgaria: Reject Nuclear Energy to Avoid Disaster! – (Novinite) Bulgarians should say a resolute 'NO' at Sunday's referendum on nuclear energy, stated MEP Rebecca Harms, chair of the Greens/EFA political group in the European Parliament…

Bulgaria Faces Sanctions for Partial EU Energy Rules Transposition – (Novinite) The European Commission is referring Bulgaria, Estonia and the United Kingdom to the Court of Justice of the European Union for failing to fully transpose the EU internal energy market rules…

Bosnia

Bosnia and Herzegovina: 'Hydroelectric Power Plants on the Drina' records 4 million KM of profits in 2012 – (Balkans) The Company ‘’Hydroelectric Power Plants on the Drina’’ from Višegrad made a profit of more than 4 million KM last year…

Germany helps Bosnia and Herzegovina in energy efficiency – (Balkans) Delegation of German Economy in BiH, with the support Federal Ministry of Economy and Technology of Germany will organise a delegate travel to Germany from 25 February to 1 March…

Bosnia and Herzegovina's TPP Gacko fulfills 99% of annual production plan in 2012 – (Balkans) Last year, thermal power plant Gacko produced 1,415 GWh of electricity, which is 99% of the plan, and used 2,125,470 tons of coal, said the head of the company Maksim Skoko…

Croatia

Biggest Wind Power Plant in Dalmatia – (Croatian Times) Spanish renewal energy corporation Acciona Energia has connected its first wind power plant to Croatia’s energy system…

Grid-connected renewables in Croatia up to 172,981 kW in 2012 – (Cogeneration) The combined installed capacity of grid-connected power generation facilities in Croatia using renewable energy sources (RES) rose to 172,981 kilowatts (kW) at the end of 2012 from 108,320 kW at the beginning of the year, the economy ministry said on Tuesday…

TAP continues cooperation with Croatian Plinacro – (Trend) Later TAP signed similar agreement with other IAP project developer, Bosnian system operator BH-Gas. In January, 2013, Plinacro signed…

Spanish company launches wind farm in Croatia – (Croatian Times) Spanish renewable water and public infrastructure projects developer, Acciona SA, has begun operating its first wind farm in Croatia…

Macedonia

NeSa Energy to Begin Macedonia Wind Farm Construction in July – (Bloomberg) NeSa Energy, a Turkish developer with plans to build a 130-million euro ($173 million) wind farm in Macedonia, will begin work on the venture in July…

NeSa Energy Plans 44-Turbine Wind Project in Southern Macedonia – (Bloomberg) NeSa Energy, a Turkish renewable- energy company, agreed to build a 130 million-euro ($173 million) wind farm in southern Macedonia…

Macedonia's ELEM to wrap up 32 mln euro HPPs upgrade by end-2014 – (Hydro World) SKOPJE (Macedonia), January 14 (SeeNews) - Macedonian state-owned power producer ELEM said the 32.1 million euro ($42.6 million) upgrade of its six hydro power plants (HPPs) will be completed by the end of 2014…

Romania

Romanian utility firms may reduce investments following tax drive – (Balkans) Transport and distribution operators in the electricity and natural gas sectors may pay a monopoly tax from February while gas companies could face an additional tax on income from deregulated prices, as part of a wider government initiative to find fresh budget resources…

Romania sets 2013 privatisation calendar – (Power Generation) Romania will organise public offerings for stakes in key state-controlled companies in the energy and railway sector this year and will fully privatise several of them, the government has agrees under its new Letter of Intent for the IMF, which was leaked to news agency Mediafax…

Romanian energy regulator drafts new rules for free natural gas market – (Power Engineering) Romania's energy regulator, ANRE, has drafted and published on its website the preliminary regulations for the liberalised natural gas market…

Serbia

Serbia raises gas prices – (New Europe) Serbia’s energy regulator set higher natural gas prices for households and business consumers,  As of February 1, homes will pay 8.6% more on average, or 44.4 dinars ($0.53) per cubic metre of gas, while a 9.5% increase for small and medium-sized businesses brings their average price to 40.42 dinars per cubic metre, the Belgrade-based Energy Agency, Bloomberg reported…

Serbia hopes for cheaper Russian natural gas – (B92) Minister of Energy Zorana Mihajlović has said that the gas Serbia gets from Russia "could be cheaper" than the present price of USD 475 for 1,000 cubic meters…

Serbia unit of Reservoir Capital Corp wins $58m HPP project in Bosnia and Herzegovina – (Balkans)  the Serbian unit of Canada's Reservoir Capital Corp , has won a 30-year concession to build three 18-megawatt hydro power plants in neighbouring Bosnia at a cost of $58m, Reservoir Capital said on Wednesday, Reuters reports…

Armenia

Prices to go up after elections in Armenia – (News.az) Prices in Armenia are going to rise in April, chairman of the Union of Consumers Armen Poghosyan told the reporters on Thursday…

JINR and NAS of Armenia sign cooperation deal – (Vestnik) President of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia Radik Martirosyan and Director of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) Victor Matveyev signed a deal to cooperate in science, innovations and education in Dubna, News Armenia reports…

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan to invest US$8.9 billion in renewable energy generation – (PVTech) The Ministry of Industry and Energy of Azerbaijan has announced it will invest US$8.9 billion to increase renewables generation to 20% by 2020…

RENAC: Azerbaijani decision makers to get the know how on improving energy efficiency – (Market Watch) Starting February, Azerbaijani political and business decision-makers will be able to attend the "Training in Energy Efficiency" (TrEff) programme…

Power generation at hydroelectric plants of Azerbaijan in 2012 fell by 33.4% - (abc.az) Baku, Fineko/abc.az. The State Statistics Committee has reported that in 2012 hydropower industry in Azerbaijan experienced a powerful crisis…

Azerbaijan reduced energy consumption - Energy Ministry – (News.az) If in 2006 Azerbaijan produced 23 billion kW/h of electricity, in the following years there was a decrease in this indicator…

Contractors of large Azerbaijani energy project to be determined in 2014 – (Trend) Contractors for the construction of the second stage of the development of the "Shah Deniz" offshore gas condensate field in the Azerbaijani…

Georgia

USAID, Georgian Ministry of Energy encourage hydropower development – (Messenger Online) The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources of Georgia (MENR) signed a program implementation letter declaring their support for the implementation of the Georgian Electricity Market Model 2015 (GEMM 2015) at the Tbilisi Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel on January 24th…

Georgia’s Economic Prospects for 2013 – (Financial) Georgia will see the fastest output growth in Eastern Europe in 2013, with real growth of 6.5% and 5.5% forecast respectively, Euromonitor International reports…

Georgian Energy Ministry intends to complete redevelopment of Inguri HPP – (Trend) eorgian Energy Minister Kakha Kaladze has announced the necessity to restore work at the Inguri Hydropower Plant and intends to negotiate this with the Abkhaz side…

Georgian Energy Ministry: Management issue of KazTransGas-Tbilisi to be decided in May – (Trend) The decision on whether the interim manager will continue to work for KazTransGas-Tbilisi or be replaced by Kazakh management will be made in May. This was announced by the Deputy Minister of Energy of Georgia, Mariam Valishvili on Monday…

U.S. to assist Georgia in creating new model for energy market – (Trend) An agreement was signed between the Georgian Energy and Natural Resources Ministry and USAID to initiate a project on creation of an…

Moldova

Moldova fears of new Russia-Ukraine gas war – (bsanna) KYIV, January 29. /UKRINFORM/. The differences arising between the Russian company Gazprom and the Ukrainian Naftogaz may outgrow in a new "gas war" between Russia and Ukraine, and are another argument in favor of the search for alternative sources of energy for Moldova…

Moldovan cabinet approves energy strategy until 2030 – (bsanna) Chisinau, January 17. /MOLDPRES/. The government today approved the Energy Strategy until 2030, which provides for concrete steps for the development of the energy sector in Moldova…

Russia

RusHydro reports 5% increase in electricity generation for FY2012 – (EBR) Russian hydroelectricity company, RusHydro reported a 5% increase in production for the year 2012, when compared to the total output in 2011…

Yugra's Nyanag SDPP generates first megawatts of electricity in power grid – (Electric Light and Power) The Naygan State District Power Plant (SDPP) of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area (also known as Yugra) has generated first megawatts of electricity in the power grid, the press service of the Fortum company said on Monday…

Russia Demands $7 Billion From Ukraine For Gas – (Radio Free Europe) A spokeswoman for Ukraine's state oil and gas company, Naftohaz, told journalists on January 28 that Russia's Gazprom has demanded that Kyiv pay $7 billion for using less gas than promised…

Russia Revisits Cold War Era Nuclear Waste Dumps in the Arctic – (Energy Tribune) As plans for offshore drilling in Russia’s Arctic materialize, the nation is revisiting Cold War-era nuclear test sites to survey potential radiation hazards around areas of oil and gas exploration, the BBC reports…

Gazprom's shaky monopoly – (The Australian) The Kremlin's support for Gazprom, Russia's state-controlled natural-gas giant, seems to be slipping. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev last week hinted at loosening Gazprom's monopoly on Russian gas exports…

Russia Arctic Natural Gas Shipping Route to Asia 10 Years Away – (Insurance Journal) Tanker transport of Russian Arctic gas through the Bering Strait to Asian buyers is at least 10 years away because of ageing infrastructure, vessel shortages and growing disputes over waterway rights…

Turkey

Ankara happy with Iran gas import: Turkish energy minister  -(Press TV) Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Sources Taner Yildiz says his country is satisfied with the unchanged level of gas trade with Iran…

Turkey trading coal for gas in electricity – (Daily News) The traditional wintertime smell of burning coal across Turkey appears set to become far more prevalent as the country turns to smoke-generating, coal-burning plants in an effort to break its large dependency on natural gas…

Turkey’s Karapinar coal deposits to save electricity – (Vestnik) Turkish scientists have fruitfully used four years of exploration at Konya. Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz says that coal deposits at Karapanir contain 1.8 billion tons of coal, allowing the country to save electricity for 30-40 years…

Turkey to hold more wind and solar electricity tenders – (ICIS) More than 4GW of solar and wind generation could be licensed in Turkey by the end of 2014, after an initial tender for photovoltaic licences is held in June, sources linked to the renewable sector told ICIS…

Minister: Turkey dissatisfied with Iranian gas prices – (Zawya) Turkey is dissatisfied with the Iranian gas price, Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Taner Yildiz was quoted today by the Anadolu agency today…

Turkey to explore fuel with Shell in Black Sea – (Daily News) Turkey’s state-run oil researcher TPAO prepares to search for oil in the Black Sea with the Anglo-Dutch Shell, after failed attempts by international energy companies, according to sources…

Ukraine

Ukraine, Russia in energy dispute over $7b gas bill – (Global Times) Ukraine and Russia were on Monday locked in a high-stakes energy dispute after Kiev refused to pay a stunning $7 billion bill for energy it allegedly promised to purchase from Moscow but never did…

Ukraine: Shell deal may transform energy sector, but only with reforms – (Beyondbrics) The ink has not yet dried on the shale gas exploration deal signed on Thursday in Davos between Ukraine and Royal Dutch Shell…

Ukraine gas deal loosens Russia’s grip – (FT) A landmark “unconventional” gas deal Ukraine signed with Royal Dutch Shell on Thursday in Davos demonstrates just how determined the former Soviet republic is to break its dependence on imported Russian fuel…

Shell, Ukraine Sign 50-year Agreement on Natural Gas – (Energy Tribune) Royal Dutch Shell PLC says it has signed a 50-year profit sharing deal with the government of Ukraine to explore and drill for natural gas in shale rock formations in the east of the country using the process widely known as “fracking.”..

Ukraine Turns To Shale Gas – (Turkish Weekly) Kyiv thinks it just might be sitting on the answer to the problem of reducing Ukraine's energy dependence on Russia: an estimated 1.2 trillion cubic meters of shale-gas reserves, the third-largest such deposits in Europe…

Ukrenergo To Auction 3.9 GW Of Electricity Export Capacity In February – (ELP)  Ukrenergo national power company (Kyiv) will auction access to power transmission lines with a total capacity of 3.9 gigawatts for exporting electricity in February, Ukrenergo has announced in a statement about the auction, which is scheduled for January 15…

To pay or not to pay Gazprom, that’s the $7 billion question – (Kyivpost) With Russia sticking Ukraine with a $7 billion bill for not purchasing enough of its high-priced natural gas last year, memories of gas wars between the two countries - which let to supply interruptions in 2006 and 2009 - are being revived…

The gloves come off again in Russia-Ukraine gas fight – (BNE) Russia hit Ukraine with a $7bn bill for unused gas deliveries on January 25, as the stand-off between the pair grows nasty once more following Kyiv's announcement of a $10bn exploration deal with Shell…

This program is made possible by the support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of the United States Energy Association and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.