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Balkans' new love for air conditioning strains grid as temperatures soar

Raba Peci never ever desired cooling the cold air made individuals sick, she thought. Then this year a string of heatwaves in her town of Mitrovica in northern Kosovo lastly changed her mind.

This summer season is very hot and intolerable and that's why we chosen to buy one now, she said as she prepared Turkish coffee for two employees who were installing a new system in her home. Her next door neighbour currently had two put in.

Numerous in the Balkans area of main Europe have long mistrusted synthetic cooling techniques. In some locations, far from the traveler locations, individuals even avoid cooled drinks and ice cream for worry of catching a cold.

Blistering summer season temperature levels like the ones seen today are modifying those mindsets, analysts say and data show. That is excellent news for cooling suppliers.

However it is raising issues about the effect of growing usage on a delicate power grid.

Cooling is a challenge for us due to the fact that we always had high intake during winter and now we have a similar scenario throughout summer season, Margarita Rashiti, a spokesperson for Kosovo energy provider Kesco, said.

On July 16 the company provided a warning to customers to limit power intake because it was needing to import one million euros' worth of power daily from its neighbours.

One month earlier, a spike in usage throughout a heatwave likely helped set off a significant power interruption throughout Montenegro, Bosnia, Albania and the majority of Croatia's coast, disrupting organizations and shutting down traffic control.

The tension that the power grids had actually currently gotten due to the prolonged heatwave in the region contributed to the event of this damage, the head of the Greek transmission operator IPTO, Manos Manousakis, stated at the time.

KEEPING COOL

Long term, nations will need to enhance their grids and increase domestic renewables output, experts say.

Bosnia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Serbia rely on coal for electricity production. Albania utilizes hydropower but relies on imports when rainfall dips in summer season

This is a brand-new situation, heavy network load in summertime. months. The transportation network is old, the capabilities are old, Mirza Kusljugic of the Regional Center for Sustainable Shift stated.

Kosovo has actually seen a 400% boost in air conditioning system imports in the previous 5 years, customizeds information reveal. Once the preserve of banks and companies, they now hum from home buildings throughout the capital Pristina.

We are having huge variety of demands. We are even having requests to install up to four units in one home, stated Rinor Gashi, a supervisor at regional Interplast Group who this year doubled the number of teams to meet skyrocketing demand.

For many years Markovic Koviljka, an 86-year old pensioner in Belgrade, prevented cooling in her apartment on the 16th floor in one of the city's landmark high-rise buildings.

But this summer, as the heatwaves kept coming and July was the hottest in 70 years, she asked her daughter to buy her a. system.

I do not like cooling, it consumes too much. electrical energy, she stated. Nevertheless, I can not remember such high. temperature levels, and I keep in mind a lot..

(source: Reuters)