Albania’s Energy Regulatory Authority (ERE) has published draft rules for the development of renewable energy communities.

While Albania first officially recognized renewable energy communities through the adoption of Law 24/2023, covering the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources, in April 2023, the country is yet to begin implementing them.

ERE’s new draft regulation sets out the rules and procedures for the establishment, registration and operation of renewable energy communities. It stipulates that energy communities will be able to engage in renewable energy generation, consumption, aggregation and energy storage.

In order to begin operating, a renewable energy community must first register with ERE. Required documents will include a description of the planned activity, details on the production plant and planned installations and an agreement with the system operator for use of the network.

Renewable energy communities with installed capacities over 100 kW will be required to present a five year business plan featuring a technical and financial assessment.

ERE will be required to review the registration request within ten working days. The regulator will be required to give approved renewable energy communities a registration number within three working days following approval. It will also be required to update the registry within the same time period. The registry of renewable energy communities will be kept electronically, with ERE responsible for the establishment and administration.

According to the draft rule, the proposed regulation will enter into force after approval by the ERE board and publication in accordance with applicable legal and regulatory procedures.

Lorenc Gordani, an energy market and regulatory lawyer and lecturer, told pv magazine the new law provides an important legal foundation for the development of energy communities and their role in the country’s energy transition. “In my view, this creates a strong basis for communities to become an additional driver of Albania’s solar market, particularly by enabling households, small businesses and local authorities to participate collectively in renewable generation and storage,” Gordani said. “The combination of distributed solar and storage could also contribute to greater flexibility in the electricity system as the share of variable renewable generation increases.”

Gordani added that the key issue now lies in implementation. “The forthcoming secondary rules will be critical in determining how energy sharing, grid access, metering, balancing and the economic treatment of community-generated energy will work in practice,” he explained. “If these mechanisms are designed clearly and predictably, renewable energy communities could become a meaningful new model for mobilizing local investment in solar and storage in Albania.”

Last month, Gordani spoke to pv magazine about recent developments in Albania’s solar and storage markets. At the time of reporting, statistics from ERE had recorded Albania’s cumulative solar capacity at 631 MW by the end of 2025.