Prospects of renewable energy potentials and development in Bosnia and Herzegovina – A review

It is extremely important for every country to use renewable energy sources due to the pollution caused by using coal and fossil fuels for the energy demands and the harmful effects on the environment and humans. This review aims to provide an overview of Bosnia and Herzegovina's current and future renewable energy plans. It was established that the highest potential for energy production lies in hydropower plants. The possible capacity of hydropower plants counts for 22.050 GWh. There are fifteen installed larger hydropower plants, 35 hydropower plants are under construction and 390 are planned. In total, there are seven current and planned wind farms with an annual production of 936.17 GWh. From all Balkan countries, it was found that Bosnia and Herzegovina has one of the largest potentials for the implementation of solar power plants. It was estimated that energy produced from solar power plants could be 70.5 × 106 GWh/year and the most suitable area is Herzegovina. Immense potential also lies in Bosnia and Herzegovina's geothermal energy, however without significant interest of authorities in the development due to initial investments in geothermal heating, which are significantly higher compared to other conventional heating systems. Concerning bioenergy, the greatest potential lies in wood residues, since forests are one of the main natural resources of Bosnia and Herzegovina. There are currently two biogas power plants, but there is no available data about biofuel and other biowaste utilization.