Page 58 - European Energy Innovation - spring 2019 publication

58 Spring 2019 European Energy Innovation

SLOVENIAN ENERGY

The future of the Slovenian
energy sector

Decarbonisation, digitisation and democratisation for greater accessibility and competitiveness

By Franc Bogovič (1), MEP, former Minister for agriculture and environment of Republic of Slovenia
and former Mayor of Krško, Municipality with Slovenian sole nuclear facility.

With Danijel Levičar (2), MBA, Member of the Management Board of GEN-I and former Director
General of the Energy Directorate at the Ministry of Infrastructure of Slovenia
The World Energy Council
(WEC) published its 2018 electrification of railways set the impact on competitiveness and
World Energy Trilemma groundwork for modern national environmental parameters. The plans
Index1 end of last year. energy systems that still offer a high for this project were made before the
level of security and affordability of global financial crisis, when energy

The index ranks 125 national energy energy, ensuring competitiveness prices were growing and coal was

systems on their ability to provide for the economy and accessibility to relatively cheap. Unfortunately, the

sustainable energy. Slovenia scored citizens. project was not stopped or at least

as high as rank 6 in this global index, scaled down despite numerous

and even ranks 2nd in terms of In the almost three decades since warnings that the economic

energy security. Slovenia became independent, four circumstances had changed

new hydro plants were built on the substantially. TEŠ accounts for about

This score is above all a result of a Sava River, and another is to be set a third of Slovenia’s power supply,

favourable design of the country’s up in the next four years. In the next at high production costs and with

energy systems – electricity, heating decade, three more hydropower a large impact on the environment.

and gas – which historically come plants may be erected on this If Slovenia intends to meet the

from the decisions of the Slovenian river. Each of these plants covers a required emission reductions, the

political leadership in the late 1960s notable share of the annual energy thermal plant will need to be shut

and the 1970s. Projects like the Krško consumption. This way, Slovenia is down before the end of its life

nuclear power plant, completion of increasing the share of renewables in cycle in 2053. At the same time, it

chain of hydro plants on the Drava its energy mix. On the other hand, the is worth noting that the share of

River, high-voltage power lines, a gas recent construction of a new, sixth wind power in Slovenia is negligible,

transmission system, the combined generator at the coal-fired thermal and other renewables (solar and

thermal power and district heating power plant in Šoštanj (TEŠ) was a biomass) account for 3-4% of power

plant TE-TOL in Ljubljana, and the big mistake because of its negative production. Moreover, planned

projects often encounter delays

due to complications in acquiring

1 2 environmental permits.

After fifty years of maintenance and
gradual modernisation of energy
systems, Slovenian politicians face
important decisions, since Slovenia
still has not adopted a long-term
concept for energy. The good news is
that the existing state of the energy
sector offers a realistic opportunity
for a positive outcome that could
also give Slovenia a new visionary
drive.

Several scenarios until 2050 have

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