Leapfrogging potential for sustainable energy transition in Serbia

Purpose This paper aims to look at the dilemma of promoting sustainable energy transition in post-socialist countries while containing social and economic implications, focusing on the case of Serbia. The aim is to analyse Serbian energy status taking into account historical factors, to analyse barriers that are hindering transition and to identify leapfrogging potential for the sustainable energy development of the country. Design/methodology/approach Energy transition and leapfrogging potential have been qualified and quantified by indicators, the own calculations and policy analysis to identify barriers to sustainable energy. Findings The country has vast potential for leapfrogging in energy transition, yet continues the gradualist approach based on several policy barriers to the process. The analysis shows six barriers related to low energy price, high energy intensity, prioritization of energy security, inadequacy of utilization of renewable sources, lack of policy coherence and dependency on external funding. However, these barriers could be overcome with an energy policy emphasizing leapfrogging potential. As is pointed out in the conclusion, this should be based on the difference between EU-28 average indicators, discrepancy between use and availability of renewable energy, potential for regional cooperation in the energy sector and under-used skills and participation. Originality/value The paper discusses energy transition in its historical context, arguing that it has to be considered as comprehensively with societal implications and effects, thus creating useful knowledge for other post-socialist countries in current and future transitions.Peer reviewe

Smart municipal energy grid within electricity market

A smart municipal energy grid including electricity and heat production infrastructure and electricity demand response has been modeled in HOMER case study with the aim of decreasing total yearly community energy costs. The optimal configurations of used technologies (photovoltaic plants, combined heat and power plants, wind power plants) and sizing, with minimal costs, are presented and compared using three scenarios of average electricity market price 3.5 c€/kWh, 5 c€/kWh and 10 c€/kWh. Smart municipal energy grids will have an important role in future electricity markets, due to their flexibility to utilize excess electricity production from CHP and variable renewable energy sources through heat storage. This flexibility enables the levelized costs of energy within smart municipal energy grids to decrease below electricity market prices even in case of fuel price disturbances. With initial costs in the range 0- 3,931,882 €, it has been shown that economical and environmental benefits of smart municipal energy grids are: the internal rate of return in the range 6.87-15.3%, and CO2 emissions in the range from -4,885,203 to 5,165,780 kg/year. The resulting realistic number of hours of operation of combined heat and power plants obtained by simulations is in the range 2,410- 7,849 hours/year.This is the peer-reviewed version of the article: Batas-Bjelic, I., Rajakovic, N., Duic, N., 2017. Smart municipal energy grid within electricity market. Energy 137, 1277–1285. [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2017.06.177