Albania: Capacity Building for Renewable Energy Investment

The development of renewable energy in Albania is set out as a priority in both the 2003 Energy Sector Strategy, and in its 2007 update. While this strategy foresees that by 2020 there would be a significant decline in the share of fossil fuels, and a corresponding increase in the share of renewable energy, both the government and private sector developers face significant barriers to the achievement of this plan.
The Albanian Ministry of Economy, Trade and Energy (the Client) has requested the European Bank for reconstruction and Development (the Bank or the EBRD) to provide technical assistance for capacity building as part of a two pronged approach to removing barriers and promoting investment in renewable energy in Albania as follows:

1. Capacity building assistance to the Client and the government (other ministries and to KESH, an Albanian power generating company with hands-on knowledge of environmental and social impact assessment of large hydro power projects as well as strategic environmental assessment of such projects related to the development of large scale hydro power projects (bidding, following up on concession agreements when awarded, operation of cascades, and the simplification of the permitting and licensing procedures).
2. Specialised technical assistance will be given to OST, the Albanian System Operator, relating to wind power integration, and to help to answer key questions about the amount of wind power that the Albanian grid can safely accept, the costs to the system of integrating wind power, and the additional costs for system strengthening if the Albanian government wants to increase the penetration of wind power above the baseline figure.

News source: EBRD link: article