Unlocking Low Cost Renewables in South East Europe

The report argues that high perceived investor risks in South East Europe lead to inflated financing costs for renewables, making them less competitive than conventional power plants. It proposes specific de-risking measures—most notably the EU budget guarantee mechanism—that could reduce project costs by up to 20%, potentially bringing onshore wind costs down to 46 EUR/MWh in Greece and 54 EUR/MWh in Serbia.

• Renewable energy investments in South East Europe face significantly higher financing costs and risk premiums compared to conventional power plants and projects in Western and Northern Europe, which hinders the modernisation of the power system.
• Implementing targeted de-risking measures can reduce the cost of renewable energy projects by 20 per cent, potentially lowering onshore wind costs to 46 EUR/MWh in Greece and 54 EUR/MWh in Serbia.
• The proposed EU budget guarantee mechanism for 2021-2027 is identified as a high-impact, 'no-regret' instrument, accounting for 40 per cent of the decline in financing costs attributed to the analysed de-risking measures.
• Other effective de-risking measures include long-term renewables targets and remuneration regimes, corporate power purchase agreements, and regionally integrated balancing and intraday markets.
• With approximately 50% of the region's existing power capacity requiring replacement in the next decade due to age, there is a significant opportunity to replace polluting lignite plants with low-cost renewables.

APA

NewClimate Institute (2019). Unlocking Low Cost Renewables in South East Europe. http://www.newclimate.org/resources/publications/unlocking-low-cost-renewables-in-south-east-europe

Chicago

NewClimate Institute. Unlocking Low Cost Renewables in South East Europe. 2019. http://www.newclimate.org/resources/publications/unlocking-low-cost-renewables-in-south-east-europe.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=NewClimate Institute |title=Unlocking Low Cost Renewables in South East Europe |date=16 October 2019 |url=http://www.newclimate.org/resources/publications/unlocking-low-cost-renewables-in-south-east-europe |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{newclimateinstitute2019unlocking, author = {{NewClimate Institute}}, title = {{Unlocking Low Cost Renewables in South East Europe}}, institution = {NewClimate Institute}, year = {2019}, month = oct, url = {http://www.newclimate.org/resources/publications/unlocking-low-cost-renewables-in-south-east-europe}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }