Amid the ongoing energy crisis, exacerbated further by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Albanian government announced it is working on it first offshore wind project.
Albania currently gets most of its power from hydropower plants but they are neither efficient nor sustainable and they decimate the surrounding environment.
Minister of Energy, Belinda Balluku announced that work on the project was underway, and it was being supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
In mid-2021, she announced the opening of bidding for a total of 100MW of onshore windfarms with the potential to increase it to 150MW.
Each bidder can apply for a project between 10MW and 75MW and those that are successful will get 15-years power purchase at a fixed price. Contracts are due to be approved by the end of June 2023.
The International Renewable Energy Agen (IRENA) said in a 2021 report that Albania has potential to deploy up to 616MW of solar and wind power by 2030 and has a potential of 7GW, three times the amount of energy the country generates currently.
Balluki also noted that the Karavasta solar park will begin construction in March, and it will take 12 months to complete. When finished, it will be the largest in Europe.
