Erseka’s three photovoltaic parks

By Fatos Çoçoli

Our country has taken important steps toward diversifying its sources of electricity. Last year we secured 11 percent of total electricity production through photovoltaic plants, or five times more than in 2021.

In Erseka, two photovoltaic parks are operating today, Erseka Solar Park 1 and Erseka Solar Park 2, with a total capacity of 40 MWh. A third park, with a capacity of 70 MWh, is expected to come into operation very soon.

Today, Albanian entrepreneurs in the energy sector not only produce energy through the parks they have built, but, thanks to the Albanian Power Exchange ALPEX, they also trade it on the free market.

The new law on the electricity sector, adopted on June 30, 2026, also provides for the inclusion of batteries in the investment, giving the whole of electricity production better balancing.

In cooperation with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the government is looking to organize, at the end of 2026 or the beginning of 2027, a new auction for photovoltaic energy, together with the batteries included in the project, for the storage and balancing of electricity production.

The development of Erseka’s three photovoltaic parks represents another step in the transformation of Albania’s energy structure, at a time when the country is trying to diversify its sources of electricity production and reduce its exposure to fluctuations in hydropower production.

The importance of the parks in Erseka goes beyond the amount of energy they will produce.

One of the main economic benefits is the diversification of the energy portfolio. Solar energy offers an alternative source that has a different profile from hydropower. In general, photovoltaic production is higher during the months and hours of strong solar radiation, precisely when demand for energy and the need for cooling can rise. That is why in June 2026 a third of the energy we produced was secured from photovoltaics.

Every megawatt-hour of electricity produced domestically from a renewable source contributes to reducing the need to buy energy on foreign markets, depending on the balance of production and consumption. This is especially important for us, since we have always secured energy imports at high cost in periods such as the summer, when regional prices rise.

A photovoltaic park does not eliminate the need for imports, but it adds domestic capacity and, together with hydropower plants and other sources, increases the flexibility of the system.

In this sense, investing in solar energy is at the same time an energy investment and an investment in the country’s economic security.

Creating a more sustainable energy economy

Energy is a fundamental input for every sector of the economy: industry, agriculture, services, tourism, transport and technology. The more stable and diversified the energy system, the greater the ability of businesses to plan their investments and their costs with more certainty.

Erseka’s photovoltaic parks, in this respect, should be seen as part of a production infrastructure that creates energy capacity at a relatively low operating cost after construction, using a domestic and renewable natural resource.

In Erseka, the two existing parks and the one that will be built very soon have created demand for workers and specialists, for construction services, for transport and logistics, for technical maintenance and for various local services.

This creates more sustainable economic activity in an area such as Erseka, where opportunities for large private investments are more limited than in the major urban centers.

On the other hand, energy investments create direct and indirect income for the local economy, through taxes, fees, services and the activity of companies linked to the projects. The economic effect is not measured only by the number of jobs created directly by the park. It also includes the activity of local businesses that supply the project, the employees who spend their income in the area, and the services that develop around the investment.

Improving infrastructure and grid connection

New renewable energy projects require appropriate transmission and distribution infrastructure. In this way, investment in a photovoltaic park can be accompanied by improvements to energy infrastructure and by strengthening the capacities of the grid.

This also matters for other future investments. A stronger and more flexible grid creates conditions for the integration of new renewable energy capacities.

With investments such as Erseka’s parks, Albania is gradually entering a new phase of energy development. In the past, the main question was how to increase energy production. Today the question is more complex: how to increase production while making the system at the same time more diversified, more stable and better able to withstand climate change and fluctuations in international markets. And solar energy is one of the answers.

Erseka’s parks thus become part of the transition from a system dominated by one main source to a system with a broader mix of hydropower, solar energy and other renewable sources.