UBT is the partner of the ELEMEND (Electrical Energy Markets and Engineering Education) project. The aim of the project is to provide, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo with high profile professionals in intelligent microgrid technologies and emerging electrical energy markets in line with societal and market needs in the Western Balkans. Capacity building in engineering academic staff and students as well as in the general public (through dissemination activities) will create a favorable environment for energy related business and will modify the electricity user’s behavior.
UBT has memorandum of understanding with leading cooperation in energy sector for example in Kosovo Energy Corporation j.s.c (KEK), Transmission, System and Market Operator j.s.c (KOSTT) or other related energy sectors.
As signatory parties of the Energy Community Treaty (ECT), Kosovo is member of the EnCT Task Force on Energy Efficiency (TF EE). Under guidance of TF EE, Ministry of Economic Development (MED) has developed the First National Energy Efficiency Action Plan (NEEAP). The Law on Energy Efficiency, No. 04/L-016, 22.07.2011, provides for the creation of the Energy Efficiency Agency. The objective of Kosovo is to achieve the set target of 9% energy saving by end of 2018.
According to a World Bank study, the application of insulation materials and double glassed windows would bring a reduction of energy consumption for heating up to an estimated 35% in individual households. Kosovo wide, this would bring potential savings of heating to 500-600 GWh/year, around 12 – 14% of the current demand for heating. Three most promising energy savings projects identified by the World Bank study for the Heating Market42 are: (1) New windows for 65% of hospitals and healthcare centers; (2) New windows for 85% of schools; and (3) New windows for 10% of apartment buildings of over three stories (built between 1960 and 1998).
The major challenges in energy efficiency in Kosovo are: incomplete legal and regulatory framework for promoting energy efficiency, the need to functionalize the institutional structure of the Energy Efficiency Agency, absence of comprehensive data systems – setting up energy data gathering and reporting systems consistent with those of EUROSTAT is an EU accession requirement, lack of incentives – Incentives can help to overcome barriers to entering the market, for example, through special programs offering financial or technical support, or even temporary exemptions from standard administrative procedures, lack of public awareness and lack of education and professional know-how.
The majority of graduate programs taught at UBT the students will be required to undertake practical and/or laboratory work.
The aims of practical work vary but usually include: