Albania’s upcoming renewables law to give prosumers market access

The Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy intends to change the relevant law to allow prosumers in Albania to sell electricity from renewable sources through agreements with suppliers and bilateral contracts.

Albania’s current Law on the Promotion of Use of Energy from Renewable Sources, from 2017, allows households and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to install wind and solar power systems with a capacity of up to 500 kW for own consumption. They are obligated to deliver surplus electricity to the distribution network, for which they receive a fee according to a tariff set by the Energy Regulatory Authority – ERE.

The Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy said it published draft amendments for public consultation until October 14.

Upon requests from some of the prosumers, mainly businesses, it proposed to extend the billing period from one month to one year, Monitor.al reported. It means the owners of small solar and wind power units would be able to get back their surplus electricity at times when their output is lower than their consumption, until the breakeven date every 12 months.

Furthermore, the amendments in the pipeline would allow prosumers to store and sell any excess power to consumers, through bilateral agreements, or to electricity suppliers.

ERE’s data shows the areas of Durrës and Tirana together accounted for more than half of photovoltaic systems for self-consumption last year. Prosumers produced 2.7 GWh in the first eight months of 2021. The regulatory body received 206 applications last year and approved 113.