RESIDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES – A CASE STUDY: TEMSKA VILLAGE, STARA PLANINA MOUNTAIN (EASTERN SERBIA)

Renewable energy sources (RES) have the possibility to regenerate in a shorter time interval than the non-renewable energy sources and that is why they have always been the subject of interest, especially in the last decades. The Republic of Serbia has RES in the form of solar, wind, the power of water flow, geothermal heat, and biomass. The scientific research conducted in July 2016 in Temska village (City of Pirot) aimed to assess inhabitants’ attitudes and awareness of using RES. By interviewing 167 respondents, it is concluded that inhabitants do not have sufficient knowledge of quality and information on RES. Mostly, they are familiar with all terms: hydropower, solar, wind and geothermal energy (over 80%), and the term of biomass energy as well (70.7%). There is an extremely high level of misinformation about the RES subventions that are provided by the Government of the Republic of Serbia (up to 85.6% of respondents are not informed). These subventions are published in the Regulation on incentive measures for the production of electricity from RES and are based on the Feed-in Tariff system that is defined as non-refundable financial assistance from the state. A small number of respondents use RES, but a considerable number (21.6% ‘yes’ and 47.3% ‘maybe’) that does not use RES is interested, or already planning to use it in the future.