Creating Integrated Systems to Scale Up Renewable Energy

In a volatile world, renewable energy is proving itself as a source of clean, secure and affordable power to drive growth and economic resilience. But what if the grid isn't ready to handle large volumes of variable wind or solar generation? What if the power system lacks flexibility and there's nowhere to store excess energy to cover gaps when the sun doesn't shine or the wind doesn't blow? What if red tape holds up projects or sponsors can't find financing?

Across Europe and Central Asia (ECA), many countries are ramping up renewable energy capacity as one of their most cost-effective sources of power. But they often face significant challenges in moving from individual projects to large scale programs.

"Accelerating the shift to secure, reliable and interconnected energy systems is an absolute economic imperative," said Xiaoqing Yu, the World Bank's Director for the Western Balkans. "However, expanding renewable energy generation further is becoming more difficult because many existing power systems were not designed to handle large shares of variable renewable energy. Integrating renewable energy at scale requires stronger and more modern grids, smarter and more digitalized power systems, greater storage capacity, and better connections across borders."

Countries in the ECA region are already delivering results, and because many of them face similar regulatory, technical and financing challenges, they have valuable lessons to share. To strengthen this peer-to-peer exchange, a technical workshop on Scaling Up Renewable Energy in Europe and Central Asia, held in Vienna on May 26-28, 2026, brought together government representatives, regulators, grid operators, utilities, development institutions and the private sector from 13 countries.

Hosted by the Austrian Ministry of Finance and the Vienna Development Knowledge Center, and convened as part of the Utility-Scale Renewable Energy Community of Practice under the World Bank's ECA Energy Knowledge Network, the workshop focused on practical solutions. Topics included grid planning and digitalization, policy and regulatory reforms, storage, cross-border markets, and financing approaches.

Meeting the challenges

Case studies offered real-life examples of progress made. Georgia is pressing ahead with ambitious plans for regional grid connections including a submarine cable under the Black Sea and a Green Energy Corridor linking Hungary, Romania, Georgia and Azerbaijan, enabling the transfer of renewable electricity from the South Caucasus to Europe.

Ukraine no longer requires licensing for energy storage and is prioritizing solar power plants with storage in its renewable energy auctions. Moldova has launched its first auction with a mandatory battery storage component for wind projects, and Kosovo has examined how land previously used for mining or thermal power stations can be redeployed for renewable energy, taking advantage of existing links to the grid.

Yusif Qayibov of Azerenerji described how the Azerbaijan power utility is strengthening and digitalizing its grid to meet new challenges such as grid congestion, frequency instability and uncertainty linked to weather variability for solar and wind power as the country increasingly shifts towards renewables from historically dominant fossil fuels.

"Digitalization is helping us to reduce forecasting uncertainty, battery storage systems are giving us more flexibility, our Wide Area Control System ensures stability and automation gives a faster response," he said.

Participants also heard perspectives from Austria, which has extensive experience in renewable energy and an ambitious target to become carbon-neutral by 2040. Martin Höller of Wien Energie, Austria's biggest energy utility, highlighted lessons from wind, solar, and hydropower projects, and integrating renewable energy into an urban energy system. The workshop included a tour of Wien Energie's iconic Spittelau waste-to-energy facility, an eye-catching local landmark designed by Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser, which burns household waste cleanly to generate 60 GWh of electricity while also feeding into Vienna's district heating and cooling systems.

The high cost of permitting and grid connection delays

Sharing experience from the European Union, Aleksandra Bujaroska of the Energy Community Secretariat said delays in the EU for issuing permits to connect new capacity to the grid currently reach as much as seven years for onshore wind and large hydro projects, costing millions of euros and discouraging investment. The EU is targeting these bottlenecks with permitting and planning reforms including shorter deadlines, simplified procedures and designated "acceleration areas" for renewables.

Fazliddin Sharofitdinov of Uzbekistan's Ministry of Energy highlighted the impact of international events such as the COVID pandemic and wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, which have pushed up insurance and interest rates. "The cost of delay is huge and has an impact," he said. "If you want a cheap power price you have to give more security and guarantees."

Stefan Dür of Austria's Federal Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism explained how a new one-stop-shop system for permitting was replacing the "long line of parallel procedures" through the country's ten separate state and federal authorities with a streamlined single application system.

Many speakers stressed the need for incentives to attract the significant private investment that is needed, including more standardization and transparency. Successful approaches include clear, long-term strategies for renewables, streamlined permitting and licensing, stronger governance for utilities and state-owned enterprises, clear dispute resolution mechanisms, and competitive auctions and tenders.

The public sector and development institutions can enable this private financing. For example, the World Bank has designated a $2 billion financing envelope, the Europe and Central Asia Renewable Energy Scale-up (ECARES), with seven projects already in place across Türkiye, Armenia, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan. The program is expected to leverage $6 billion in private capital financing, and the Bank is planning to request approval from its Board for further funding of nearly $3 billion.

Participants agreed that the opportunity to exchange experience in the workshop provided a crucial range of perspectives to apply in their own work.

"It helps us understand where others have made mistakes so that we do not repeat them," said Doina Dînga of Moldova's Ministry of Energy. "It helps us save time and become more effective in accelerating the development of renewable energy."