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Although the countries of the Western Balkans are mostly electrified, there are still regions which do not have access to the electricity network or where the network capacity is insufficient. For the most part such areas are under special care of the state (i. e. underdeveloped, devastated by war, depopulated), on islands or in mountainous regions. Since the decentralized energy generation covers a broad range of technologies, including many renewable energy technologies that provide small-scale power at sites close to the users, such concept could be of interest for these locations. This paper identifies the areas in Western Balkans where such systems could be applied. Consideration is given to geographical locations as well as possible applications. Wind, hydro, solar photovoltaic, and biomass conversion systems were taken into consideration. Since the renewable energy sources data for Western Balkans region are rather scarce, the intention was to give a survey of the present situation and an estimate of future potential for decentralized energy generation based on renewable energy sources. The decentralized energy generation based on renewable energy sources in Western Balkans will find its niche easier for the users that will produce electricity for their own needs and for the users located in remote rural areas (off-grid applications).

There is a growing need for the use of alternative and renewable energy sources, in terms of sustainable energy development. One of the potentially biggest renewable energy sources in Serbia is agricultural biomass, quite available and cheap at the moment. For many years, the Vinca Institute of Nuclear Sciences, Laboratory for Thermal Engineering and Energy, has been working on the development of clean technologies for efficient utilization of biomass, and as a result utilities and equipment (boilers and furnaces) with wide range of use have been developed. These devices have complete combustion control and primarily burn baled biomass with no adequate utilization. The results of the development and of the tests of an experimental demonstrativel boiler burning small bales of soya straw have been presented in this paper. In the boiler, the combustion has been organized on the 'cigarette burning' principle, and fuel feeding has been done by gravity. The technical scheme of the boiler and the results of preliminary tests carried out in real operation conditions have been given.

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