RESET Project Results: Education and Skills for the Renewable Energy Future of the Western Balkans (2023–2025)

Did you know that in the Western Balkans, carbon intensity is more than five times higher than in the EU, and that most households still rely on coal, oil, or even traditional firewood for heating? This dependence not only makes the region one of the most carbon-intensive in Europe, but also increases vulnerability to energy poverty, health risks, and economic instability.  To tackle this, the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans, launched in 2020, set a clear direction: cut CO₂ emissions, reduce fossil fuel dependence, and move towards renewable energy. But there is a catch – without skilled workers and modern education systems, this transition cannot succeed.

This is where the RESET – Renewable Energy Services in Education and Training project comes in. Implemented by the Education Reform Initiative of South Eastern Europe (ERI SEE), with the support of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) under the Regional Climate Partnership framework, RESET served as the education and skills dimension of the broader regional project Green Agenda: Decarbonisation of the Electricity Sector in the Western Balkans.

While the Green Agenda for WB set the overall direction and long-term goals of the energy transition, RESET project focused on making these ambitions tangible in the vocational education and training sector. By developing teaching materials, strengthening vocational education and training (VET) systems, and supporting schools, teachers, and learners, RESET project helped ensure that the transition to renewable energy is not only about new technologies and infrastructure, but also about people and the skills that will shape the region’s energy future.

More:

• North Macedonia One Step Closer to the EU’s Integrated Electricity Market
• Montenegro’s 2024 Energy Balance – Hydrological Challenges and Increased Electricity Consumption
• Bulgaria Announces New Oil and Gas Exploration in the Black Sea

Over two years (2023–2025), RESET project team worked across six Western Balkan economies – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia – and delivered concrete, lasting results:

• Teaching and Learning Materials (TLM): For the first time, regional teaching and learning resources were developed for two areas critical to the renewable energy sector – Installation and Maintenance of Solar Photovoltaic Systems and Installation and Maintenance of Electrical Equipment in Wind Power Plants. These practical and modern guides, with numerous videos, exercises, and examples, published in Montenegrin, Albanian, Macedonian and Serbian, are now available to vocational schools and adult education centres across the region. Teaching and learning materials are available for download on the following link.
• Action Plan: In 2025, RESET coordinated the development of the Regional Action Plan – Supporting Education and Training for the Renewable Energy sector. This strategic document gives ministries, agencies, and other relevant bodies a roadmap to align their activities with labour market needs in the renewable energy sector, ensuring that they can support the energy transition.
• Awareness and outreach at regional and national levels: Through two regional EduEnergy conferences, 12 national events, and a targeted media campaign, RESET brought together educators, businesses, policymakers, and the wider public, showing that renewable energy careers are not only necessary, but also attractive, gender and socially inclusive, and future-oriented.
  • The first EduEnergy Conference: Building Bridges for Sustainable Energy Learning (March 2024) examined challenges in the energy sector and the skills needed to support the green transition, engaging over 200 participants from the region. The second conference, EduEnergy 2.0: Towards Shaping the Future of Renewable Energy Transition in the Western Balkans (October 2024), focused on the role of education in renewable energy transition, exploring labour market needs, social sustainability, and gender equity. Both conferences provided regional platforms for dialogue, exchange, and alignment between education systems and the energy sector, ensuring that skills development is recognised as a cornerstone of the green transition.
  • In addition, twelve national events were organised across all Western Balkan economies between April and June 2025. These events gathered representatives of vocational schools and adult education providers, introduced the newly developed regional teaching and learning materials on solar photovoltaics and wind power, and highlighted labour market needs, gender aspects, and funding opportunities. By engaging education institutions, experts, and policymakers at the national level, the events strengthened cooperation with the energy sector and promoted renewable energy careers more directly within each economy.

From its start in Budva in November 2023 to the final Action Plan in September 2025, RESET has shown what regional cooperation can achieve: new teaching and learning tools, joint set of proposed actions, and stronger bridges between schools and the labour market.

But the story does not end here. The sustainability of the RESET project depends on how its results are carried forward: by teachers who bring renewable energy into classrooms, by students who turn new skills into future careers, and by policymakers who create the frameworks that will support the workforce of tomorrow.

The next step is to build on the foundation laid. That means staying connected across the region, encouraging stronger partnerships between schools, businesses, and governments, ensuring that funding continues to support green education, and keeping the transition inclusive so that no one is left behind.

With these steps, the Western Balkans can move faster towards a clean, competitive, and fair energy future and everyone has a role to play in that journey.

Find out more about the project and its results on the project page.

Source: ERI SEE

* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status and is in line with UNCSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo* declaration of independence.