Albania 7th in Europe for Share of Renewable Energy

TIRANA, January 23

The share of energy from renewable sources in gross and final consumption in Albania reached 34.9 percent in 2018, thus ranking the country seventh in Europe, Eurostat confirmed on Thursday. Meanwhile, Kosovo ranked 12 with a share of 24.9 percent from renewable energy sources.

Yet, the diversification of non-hydro renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, geothermal, biomass is crucial in Albania, as the country strongly depends on hydropower. The latter is not as clean as expected in terms of environmental damage. HPP require large areas to be flooded, thus affecting local communities, agricultural land, wildlife habitat, and scenic lands. Currently, the case of planned HPP projects on the Vjosa River is a hot potato that gained international attention.
Back to Eurostat report, Albania ranks second among the countries of the region, following Montenegro that had a share of 38.8 percent of energy coming from renewable sources.

Norway had by far the highest share in 2018 with 72.8 percent coming from renewable sources, ahead of all the EU and non-EU member countries. The top ten leading European countries for clean energy in 2018 were:
Norway – 72.8 percent
Sweden – 54.6 percent
Finland – 41.2 percent
Latvia – 40.1 percent
Montenegro – 38.8 percent
Denmark – 36.1 percent
Albania – 34.9 percent
Austria – 33.4 percent
Portugal – 30.3 percent
Estonia – 30.0 percent

Read also: Albania Invites Bids for 140MW Solar PV Plant

Source: ec.europa.eu