Most of Albania’s electricity is produced using hydropower generated by the network of dams along its mountainous rivers. The rest of the power comes from wind, solar and imported electrons.
The statistics for overall energy are far less impressive though, as more than 60 per cent of demand is met by fossil fuels like oil and gas. But the current government has big plans to change that, partly prompted by ongoing price spikes and Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Albania enjoys the most sunshine hours of any country in Europe, so is ideally placed to exploit the power of the sun. Last week, Prime Minister Edi Rama laid the foundation stone for a new 140 megawatt solar power plant.
French firm Voltalia – which has installed more than 1 gigawatt of clean energy across 20 different countries, with 10GW more in the pipeline – is building the plant and plans to hook it up to the Albanian grid by 2023.
The solar panels will be able to generate enough power for 220,000...