New Polis, in cooperation with E3 International, has published a new white paper, Beyond Megawatts: Grid Readiness and Energy Competitiveness in the Balkans.
September 30, 20206 – The paper looks beyond headline figures on installed generation capacity and asks a more practical question: how much electricity can a new major consumer actually access at a specific location, within a realistic timeframe and cost?
This question is becoming increasingly important across Southeast Europe as renewable generation expands, electricity demand grows and new investments in data centres, advanced manufacturing, battery production and industrial electrification place new requirements on power systems.
For E3 International, this perspective is closely aligned with our work across the Western Balkans and other emerging energy markets. Investment-ready energy systems depend not only on generation capacity, but also on grid access, connection conditions, infrastructure readiness, system flexibility and the ability to translate energy resources into reliable power for new investment.
The white paper examines these issues across eight Balkan electricity systems and introduces the concept of “usable MW” — an investor-oriented way of looking at how much power can realistically be made available to a new large consumer.
The analysis reflects a broader shift in energy competitiveness: the question is no longer only how many megawatts a country can produce, but how many of those megawatts can be made accessible, reliable and usable for the next major consumer.
Read more about the white paper on New Polis
View the full white paper