On Friday, April 7, the project “Solar panels in schools in the Western Balkans” was launched in the two lower secondary schools “Qamil Batalli” and “Iliria” in Pristina. Supported by the Kosovo Foundation for Open Society, and implemented in collaboration with the Municipality of Pristina and Jaha Solar, this project aims to promote the energy transition by increasing clean and renewable energy production capacities — as well as enabling public schools to reduce costs in energy and use these means for other needs.
As a result of this project, two pilot schools of the Municipality of Pristina, “Qamil Batalli and “Iliria”, have benefited from the installation of solar panels with a capacity of 20.25 kW and 18.9 kW, respectively, which will enable the schools to save of 21% and 30% on their electricity bills. In monetary terms, schools will be able to save 2,200 to 2,500 euros per year just from their electricity bills.
The project aims to expand revenue sources for public schools, strengthen self-governance and ownership of social programs, support the transition to sustainable energy, increase social inclusion in education and create environmentally friendly schools.
The director of the school “Qamil Batalli” Mr. Liridon Maliqi thanked KFOS for the investment, the Municipality of Pristina for the opportunity for this investment to take place in schools in Pristina, specifically in his school, as well as Jaha Solar for the implementation of the project.
The vice-mayor of the municipality of Pristina, Mr. Alban Zogaj said that the municipality of Pristina is very grateful for such an investment, since this helps not only the municipality, but also the whole of Kosovo and the energy industry in the country.
“These projects, whether small or even large, help save energy, because they use an energy that comes from the sun and is free energy.
The whole idea is to use that energy, not to use the energy produced by burning coal, which is extremely harmful to the environment and human health,” said Vice President Zogaj.
While the executive director of the Kosovo Foundation for Open Society, Mrs. Lura Limani emphasized that this pilot project is part of the regional project which is being implemented in Albania, North Macedonia, Serbia, while this year it will also start to be implemented in Bosnia and Herzegovina. “We thank the municipality for cooperation and we hope that, as they have promised, they will return the saved funds as an investment in the school for infrastructure or additional activities”, said Mrs. The harbour.
Mrs. was also present at the inauguration. Zanfina Kabashi from Jaha Solar, who gave a short presentation of the technical side of the project implementation.
The investment was made entirely with the means of the Kosovo Foundation for Open Society, but if it was made by the municipality or the school itself, the return on investment would be 6 years.
Since elementary schools in Kosovo do not manage with a budget and do not even have bank accounts, the funds saved, according to the commitment of the Municipality of Pristina, will be returned to the schools to contribute to their maintenance or to increase the capital investments in these two schools .
The project is a joint initiative of the Open Society Foundations in four Balkan countries – Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Serbia. In 2023, the project will expand to include Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Municipality of Pristina Model School “Qamil Batalli” – Pristina JAHA Solar
