Overview

Kosovo Wind Gardens wind turbines to support rural development. As the youngest country in Europe, Kosovo became independent in February of 2008. It has a population of 2.4 million of which 60% live in rural areas experiencing unemployment rates of between 40 and 60% (World Bank). Approximately 90% of Kosovo’s energy comes from a dirty form of coal called lignite. The plants that continue to burn this coal have had little renovation over the past thirty years . The effects of their pollution are seen and felt on a day to day basis in their capital city, Pristina. Also, due to the limited energy capacity of Kosovo’s power plants, people outside of the capital experience black-outs on a frequent basis - this is one reason for the country’s slow business growth. Lastly, since the war in Kosovo in 1999, there has been little development of the country’s agricultural sector. Because Kosovo imports nearly all of its food from the surrounding Balkan countries, which employ labor at about twice the cost of labor in Kosovo, there is clearly a strong market incentive for re-developing Kosovo’s agricultural infrastructure.