Potential and utilization of renewable energy in the Southeastern region in the Republic of Macedonia.

Life on Earth originated and survived millions of years as a result of the favorable climatic conditions. The climate can be considered as a renewable resource whose energy component is comprised from the solar energy, while the material component represents oceans as water tanks. Renewable energy sources (RES) can be divided into two main categories: traditional renewable energy sources such as biomass and large hydropower plants and the so called “new renewable energy sources” such as the solar energy, wind energy, geothermal energy, etc. This paper refers to the potential and utilization of RES in the southeastern planning region in the Republic of Macedonia. The main goal of the paper is to analyze possibilities of using the RES which naturally belong to the areas of the ten municipalities located in this part of the Republic of Macedonia. This is achieved by defining the existing potentials of RES in the region, the state of their current usage, balance and categorization based on quality, energy value, energy resources, etc. Methodology used in the research is also presented in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]