Chinese Investments in Renewable Energy Projects in Central and Eastern European Countries

Zakić Katarina (Institute of International Politics and Economics, Belgrade, Serbia), katarina@diplomacy.bg.ac.rs

The main aim of this paper is to analyse the most important challenges of Chinese investments in renewable energy projects in Central and East European countries. The focus of research is on challenges within the China-Central and Eastern European countries cooperation framework because theoretical and empirical research is mainly oriented towards traditional energy projects. The analysed period spans from 2014 until 2022. With 26 active or completed projects out of the 29 proposed projects in the renewable energy field, the cooperation has been positive so far, but with modest outcomes. The investors in this field were both Chinese state-owned and private companies, while most of the projects were realised through investments and not loans. The main challenges within China-Central and East European countries renewable energy cooperation were political issues, public policies and strategies of national governments, corruption, finances, and legal issues.

Keywords: China, Central and East European countries, renewable energy, results, challenges.