Energy justice and the legacy of conflict: Assessing the Kosovo C thermal power plant project

Abstract

The concept of energy justice has emerged as an important theoretical and methodological tool aiding to understand challenges in the extraction, production and consumption of energy, and its societal, economic, environmental and security implications. We apply energy justice as an analytical framework to analyse the political, societal and environmental impacts of energy policies in the context of post-conflict instability. Using the Kosovo C project as a case study, a planned lignite power plant and its associated infrastructure, we utilise the three tenets of energy justice (distributional, procedural, and justice as recognition) and Sovacool and Dworkin's (2015) eight aspects of just energy decision-making to depict the opportunities and challenges of the empirical application of energy justice in a post-conflict environment. The application of energy justice to the Kosovo case identifies the legal/regulatory and the temporal dimensions as crucial challenges to just energy policies in a context in which: (i) the lack of due process, good governance, and ongoing postconflict tensions aggravate the societal, economic and environmental impacts of energy policies; (ii) accessibility and affordability of energy is prioritised over the promotion of sustainability; and (iii) intra-and intergenerational equity concerns take a backseat in the face of immediate state-building priorities.

Trace Metal Content of Coal Exacerbates Air-Pollution-Related Health Risks: The Case of Lignite Coal in Kosovo

“…Information on the impact of trace metals in coal could improve decision-making by energy planners, and the international institutions that finance large infrastructure projects. Additionally, such information could help address the challenges of coal-based electricity generation projects identified by justice-based and legal frameworks, such as the need for due process, sustainability, and intra-and intergenerational equity, especially given the historical legacy of Kosovo C. 58 The arsenic and chromium content we measured in samples from the Kosovar Pliocene basin exceed global IEA averages for lignite. There is cause for concern that these metals, as well as other toxic metals such as the mercury and nickel also found in the lignite coal samples, are not currently accounted for in PM emission risk assessments and could negatively impact public health by increasing the surrounding community's risk for neurodevelopmental impacts, respiratory illness, cancers, cardiovascular disease, neurological impairment and premature death.…”

Analysis of the Potential for Renewable Utilization in Kosovo Power Sector

“…A detailed analysis of the implementation effects of TPP "Kosova e Re" was done by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial analysis [7]. Since Kosovo has planned to start building a new coal-fired power plant called "Kosova e Re", some of the existing studies have also criticized this project based on its impacts on water usage and water cuts, including related statements [8].…”

“…There are many of the existing studies in the field based on journal publications and proceedings directly into the case studies based and focusing specifically on Kosovo [8,[12][13][14]. In the literature [15], low, medium and high growth scenarios between 2010 and 2025 for Kosovo were taken into account with renewable energy shares, which were considered to be at least 10% of the total electricity generation.…”

The State of the Art of Gendered Energy Innovations: A Structured Literature Review

“…The levels identified (institutional, economic, environmental, and socio-cultural) were all considered for inclusion in this study. Another energy justice framework is aimed at facilitating a deeper analysis of energy justice on the political, societal, and environmental levels [41].…”

“…In an effort to combine the input of the studies under consideration, Table 2 is synthesised to summarise the findings. [3] Institutional; economic; environmental; socio-cultural [41] Political; societal; environmental [6] Social; political; institutional [42] Fuel characteristics; household; financial; legislation/standards; programmes [43] Social; demographic; institutional; environmental; technical; economic Given that two of the abovementioned sources were systematic reviews [3,43], this comparative table of the levels of discourse is even more far-reaching and inclusive. After conglomerating some of the mentioned domains/levels, those that proved dominant or that encapsulated more than one aspect at a specific level of discourse, were selected.…”