Albania's energy regulator, ERE (Enti Rregullator i Energjisë), has suspended its decision on the production licence application for the "Dropulli Wind" wind farm, developed by EU Green Energy in the south of the country. The specialist press relayed the company's announcement on 11 November 2026, and the original press release could not be found. Among the documents requested is the number of turbines matching the total capacity, a parameter other developers also adjust along the way, such as OX2 at the Dinner Hill wind farm.

A wind market still without a commercial wind farm

Albania draws its electricity almost exclusively from hydroelectric plants, which exposes it to dry years. The country is seeking to diversify its generation mix with wind and solar, but no commercial wind farm operates there yet. The first, the Spille wind farm developed by Austrian utility Verbund, has just entered the construction phase. Elsewhere in Europe, installations are already in operation, such as the 12 turbines of alpha ventus, for which Ocean Breeze Energy has awarded maintenance to Deutsche Windtechnik.

In all the official documents reviewed, the project is named "Dropulli Wind". It is located in the administrative unit of Jorgucat, in the municipality of Dropull, Gjirokastër region, and is progressing in successive phases. EU Green Energy is a private Albanian company: the "EU" prefix is part of its corporate name, and no document reviewed indicates any link with the European Union. It leads the project within a temporary association with two other Albanian companies, Winpharma and A.91.

A procedure carried out in stages

The procedure began with a building permit application submitted to the ministry. The preliminary authorisation, meaning the ministry's agreement in principle to the project, followed a few months later. It covers a plant that receives no public support scheme. After more than a year, the company filed its production licence application with ERE.

The regulator opened the procedure, then held a public consultation that drew no objections from third parties. It heard the company at a hearing before suspending its decision. It justified the suspension by the absence of essential documents:

Voir l’offre the consent deed of the association's lead company, which is to hold the licence and operate the plant; the Council of Ministers' decision and the contract signed with the ministry for the construction of the wind farm; the chosen financing method, with supporting documents; the number of turbines matching the total capacity; the final approval of the connection point issued by OST (Operatori i Sistemit të Transmetimit), the public transmission system operator.

At the hearing, the company had stated that the last outstanding item was the land lease covering the entire site. That lease depended on the establishment of the new municipal council of Dropull. The regulator also found no document establishing that all the companies in the association, as well as the ministry, agreed to have the licence issued to EU Green Energy alone.

Grid connection, a bottleneck for the sector

On grid connection, only a preliminary opinion from OST on the connection point is documented in the regulator's decisions, with no date or reference. The final approval remained to be provided. The preliminary opinion, the final approval and the connection contract are distinct steps, as are the ministry's preliminary authorisation and ERE's production licence.

Grid connection is described as the sector's main bottleneck: a very large number of wind and solar projects have requested access to the transmission grid, while very few contracts have been signed. ERE is chaired by Petrit Ahmeti, according to a decision signed in July 2026. The Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy is headed by Enea Karakaçi, cited in that capacity on 30 October 2026. The exact date of his appointment is not established.