Prospects for new renewable energy sources in Macedonia

The main goal of this paper is to present a comprehensive assessment of the prospects for implementation of new renewable energy sources in Macedonian conditions. The economic and environmental evaluation is performed for several renewable energy technologies (small hydro power; wind power; biogas from small agricultural industries; grid-connected photovoltaics; geothermal heating for greenhouses and hotels; solar heaters for individual houses; large solar heaters for public buildings and industry) using the software tool GACMO (greenhouse gases costing model), developed at the UNEP Riso Centre. To consider the environmental impact, this model deals with the potential of the technology to reduce the greenhouse gases (GHG) emission - the most important pollutants associated with the energy production. The cost and benefits of each of the listed renewable energy technologies are evaluated in terms of GHG emissions reduction (tons Of CO2-eq), as well as the average reduction costs expressed in US$ per ton Of CO2-eq. Furthermore, all technologies are combined in a form of marginal cost abatement curve, displaying the total marginal cost of the GHG emissions reduction. Finally, the limiting barriers to the promotion of renewables in local conditions are discussed.