Bosnia fails to 'exploit' green energy

Bosnia is failing to exploit its biomass potential, according to industry experts.

According to media reports on news channel Balkan Insight (BIRN), industry experts say that the Eastern European country could exploit clean biomass energy to cover a significant share of its total electric needs.

Fahrudin Kulic, an expert on biomass working with USAID, told BIRN: "Bosnian authorities are planning to build the first biomass power plant in the western town of Livno but the project is still only on paper.”

According to Kulic, Bosnia could cover around 7% of its total electricity demand by fully exploiting biomass. However, this potential is still not exploited, Kulic said, noting a variety of reasons.

"Investors effectively in possession of biomass resources, mostly Bosnian companies dealing in the wood sector, are not familiar with these technologies ... and they find it hard to obtain permits to start operating in this sector," he told BIRN.

Another reason, Kulic pointed out, is that it is currently expensive for local businessmen to build the plants.