Energy sector in Albania is at a crucial point of development. Among the
last most important millstone has been the submission on March 2015 to the Ecs
the Progress Report on the Renewable Energy Directive 2009/28/EC as adapted by
the Ministerial Council Decision 2012/04/MC-EnC. A report that asses among
other the progress made in evaluating and improving administrative procedures
to remove regulatory and non-regulatory barriers to the development of
renewable energy (Article 22(1)e) of Directive 2009/28/EC)).
In regard, particular efforts are made to facilitate the coordination
between different administrative bodies responsible for parts of the permit for
a specific project. The establishment of the National Licensing Centre has been
a positive step forward in creating an one‐stop shop for all licenses and
permits required for a project. However, there are still some licenses or
permits such as the license issued by the Energy Regulator for carrying out an
activity in power sector or the construction permit issued by the local
authority that are not integrated in the National Licensing Centre.
The authorizations for construction of RES installations are granted by
the Council of Ministers either under the concession law requirements for
hydropower plants or under the power sector law requirements for other types of
RES power producers as under the biofuel law for producers of biofuel. Licenses
for carrying out the activity of electricity generation from RES are issued by
the Energy Regulatory Authority.
The conditions and criteria for granting an authorization for
construction of a RES power plant other than hydropower plants are already
contemplated in the existing power sector law
and the specific regulation approved by the Council of Ministers regulates
the procedures in Albania take into account the specificities of the different
renewable energy technologies.
For any RES power generator or biofuel producer an environment permit is
required to be issued by the Ministry of Environment, based on an environment
impact assessment. The law on the environment protection and the law on
environment impact assessment require that the Ministry of Environment and
local authorities cooperate during the whole process guaranteeing the public
participation in any possible decision‐making.
As to construction permit, according to the new law on territorial
planning, the local authorities are responsible for issuing such a permit. The
new law also stipulates that a close cooperation will be established by the
National Territory Council and the National Territorial Planning Agency from
one side as central government bodies and the local authorities from the other.
Article 4 of the law on territorial planning provides for that the horizontal
and vertical coordination between the national and local planning authorities
and the stakeholders, which helps ensure that the planning instruments are
adopted in compliance with the planning instruments enacted by the other
authorities, and that help harmonize the public and private, national and local
interests.
Then as reported by the above study submit to the Secretariat, it
appears that there are not any unnecessary obstacles or non‐proportionate
requirements related to authorization, certification and licensing procedures
applied to plants and associated transmission and distribution network
infrastructure. The establishment of the National Licensing Centre has
facilitated quite a lot the process of getting a license, authorization or
permit.
The here communication came within the framework of the
international project on Adapting to Climate Change, developed as a local
partner by the ACERC. In cases of interest to a directly cooperation as author
with analyses or for any kind of involvement or support as well as a partner,
contact us at the info@albaniaenergy.org. For more keep update with the EU &
WBs / Albania Energy Regulation Updates or
visit the Official Page of ACERC.