The Western Balkans’ aging energy systems place it between East and West

This article highlights the massive opportunity of unlocking the Balkans’ capacity to bolster European energy security and the unfathomable cost of the failure to act. Today, the area’s existing and po- tential hydropower capacity will determine Central Europe’s ability to deploy intermit- tent renewable energy to (sustainably) reduce its dependency on Russian natural gas. Use of this massive strategic resource depends on a self-sufficient local electricity market and reforestation of the territory, both of which are dependent on the quality of local governance, which is influenced by external interests.