Start date:  April 15, 2013                  Duration:  July 31, 2017

Anticipated Project budget (Life of Project):  $2.3 million

Implementer:  Winrock International

Support the Government of Macedonia's efforts to increase investment in energy generation from renewable sources, and reduce Macedonia’s total final energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.   

• Streamline renewable energy (RE) project development and investment processes — activities are undertaken aimed at improving renewable energy enabling environment.
• Establish low-emissions-development planning procedures, working closely with the Government of Macedonia to improve the legal framework for planning, launching, and implementing low-emissions-development, while advancing economic growth, improving environmental management, and meeting development objectives.

• The Project works closely with the Cabinet of the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs; the Ministries of Economy, Environment and Spatial Planning, Agriculture/Forestry and Water Economy; the Energy Agency; the Macedonian Academy of Science and Arts; and the Association of Renewable Energy Producers.  

• Streamlined the RE investment processes – Continuous analysis of the present comprehensive legal RE framework and developing recommendations for its modification, shortening the  time the RE investment process takes by as much as 12 months.
• Established the Renewable Energy Stakeholder Forum – a new mechanism for sustainable and efficient public-private dialogue that brings together investors, Government and NGOs to discuss the most relevant RE investment issues and how to improve them.
• Mapped LEDS elements in the national strategic planning – Completed assessment on inclusion and implementation of the LEDS approach in the Government of Macedonia strategic planning and recommendations for integration of LEDS into national sustainable development planning.
• Introduced Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System techniques for forest-change monitoring – Presented new platforms, techniques and software for image procession and interpretation.
• Developed a new energy balance methodology harmonized with EUROSTAT, including uniformed questionnaires for collection and reporting of energy data, to support development of national policies, and meet the reporting requirements of the Energy Community.

Contact at USAID:  Margareta Lipkovska Atanasov, AOR mlipkovska@usaid.gov

Chief of Party: Samir Latif latifs@winrock.org      

Information Officer:  Tatjana Mitevska tmitevska@winrock.org