With the ambition of transforming Albania into an electricity exporting country, the "Rama" government has granted dozens of licenses for photovoltaic parks, without considering the consequences for local communities and the environment, while experts say that the energy transition is entering a paradox.
The solar energy revolution arrived without warning last September in the village of Boçovë in Fier – just a few kilometers from the beach of Seman on the Adriatic – when heavy machinery began digging alongside cultivated fields.
No one in the village knew what was happening, but the alarm grew as the days passed.
Nikoll Ndoi, a teacher by profession, first heard that a private company was opening a road. But his concern increased manifold when he learned that the land he had enjoyed for 30 years was no longer his.
“It turns out that a photovoltaic park is being built here and the land is no longer ours,” Ndoi said with irritation in late December. “I haven’t been able to register it for 30 years, he comes to us one day and does it without a problem,” he added.
The photovoltaic power plant planned to be built in Boçova is one of the largest solar energy projects in Albania, approved by the government on June 4, 2025. The project has disrupted the lives of a small community of 14 families, as it overlaps with lands claimed by them.
The permit has been granted to a new company called Albania Solar Power, but residents accuse businessman Pëllumb Salillari of being behind the project and – under still unclear circumstances – of appropriating their property.
The conflict in the village of Boçova is not isolated.
Since 2018, the Albanian government has granted dozens of permits for the construction of photovoltaic parks in Albania, fueling the ambition for what it calls energy sovereignty - and even to transform itself into a net electricity exporting country by the end of 2030.
But the government's plans are disrupting the livelihoods of local communities, who are watching as thousands of hectares of land around them are being fenced off and covered in solar panels, affecting traditional livestock and land use activities.
The government's policy on renewable energy is also viewed with suspicion by experts in the field, as long as most of the energy expected to be generated by photovoltaic parks is not intended for domestic consumption, but for export.
"The power plants have a capacity of up to 1 gigawatt, but without any obligation to sell this energy to the Albanian state," says Gjergji Simaku, former Deputy Minister of Energy in Rama's cabinet until 2022, with concern.
"In this way, Albania risks exporting clean energy and importing fossil energy, turning the energy transition into a paradox," he added.
Salillari was not available for comment by the time this article was published.
Environmental risks
Albania is traditionally one of the countries with the highest production of clean energy in Europe, with over 90 percent generated from hydropower. However, the country has suffered from periodic energy crises due to its dependence on climatic conditions.
Since 2018, the government of Prime Minister Edi Rama has turned its attention to solar energy to diversify its sources. By the end of 2025, the Energy Regulatory Authority licensed 71 private companies for the production of photovoltaic energy, while the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy together with the Council of Ministers have approved dozens of other permits that are in the process of financing or construction.
Together, the photovoltaic parks licensed by ERE are expected to produce over 978 megawatts of electricity or 30 percent of the total installed electricity production capacity in Albania of 3,213 megawatts.
Photovoltaic technology is considered one of the most environmentally friendly forms of electricity production, with numerous environmental and economic benefits. However, experts estimate that the sustainable development of this sector requires strategic decision-making regarding land use and the livelihoods of local communities.
This does not seem to be the case in Albania.
Initially planned to be located on barren land, the government changed its approach in 2024, when it approved legal changes that paved the way for the construction of photovoltaic parks even within pastures.
Meanwhile, a significant number of licenses are concentrated on the borders of protected areas or near the mouths of the Shkumbin, Seman and Vjosa rivers in the Fier region – known as important natural corridors for bird movement.
According to a report by the environmental organization "All Green Center", the procedures for leasing forest and pasture lands have often been rushed, in the absence of competition and with limited participation of affected local communities.
Ola Mitre, director of the All Green Center, told BIRN that the boom in the renewable energy sector in Albania is facing the challenge of sustainable development.
“Support for green energy should not come at the expense of the loss of natural capital, an asset for which the country has obligations not only to today's citizens, but also to future generations,” Mitre said.
Other environmental activists are concerned about the long-term impact of these projects on the livelihoods of local communities and the environment.
Taulant Bino, president of the Albanian Ornithological Society, believes that many of these projects are disrupting the traditional relationships of local people with the land and have an environmental impact. He also criticizes the scheme of individual environmental assessments, which neglects the collective effect that several projects concentrated in a certain area can have on biodiversity.
“Until now, environmental assessments have been done for each park separately, even when the plants are located next to each other, neglecting their combined effect on the land, biodiversity and local communities,” said Bino.
"Solutions have been found around the world, where although photovoltaic parks are built, the area beneath them is allowed to be used by local residents for pastures. In Albania, companies are restricting access to local farmers through fencing," he added.
Environmental activist Lavdosh Ferruni also emphasizes environmental impact assessments and the participation of local communities in decision-making.
“In some cases, photovoltaic parks have been built on traditional pastures, used for years by local communities, often without formal ownership documents, but with inherited rights in practice. Although the technology allows the coexistence of panels with livestock grazing, the lack of consultation has fueled social tensions,” he said.
Environmental expert Kristi Bashmilli points out the long licensing time for these projects over the next twenty or thirty years – which he says will result in a long-term change in land use.
"Local government institutions must be more vigilant towards these often rapid changes. Especially in ensuring the sustainability of land use, the protection of agricultural land, nature and the protection of the interests of local communities," he said.
Experts agree that the problem is not solar energy itself, but the lack of a strategic environmental assessment and a clear national map that determines where these parks should and should not be built.
Social tensions
In the municipality of Fier, several hundred hectares of land have already been covered by photovoltaic panels, while new areas are expected to be covered in the near future.
Among the 71 photovoltaic power plants licensed by the ERE, 50 of them or 70 percent of the total are located in the Fier region - mainly located in the villages of Sheqi, Topojë, Dërmenas and Darzeza on the edge of the Seman estuary.
In the village of Boçova alone, the photovoltaic power plant awarded to the Albania Solar Power company is planned to extend over 50 hectares of land. The project is expected to have an installed capacity of 82 MW, an investment value of 80 million euros and a duration of use of 49 years.
The 80 million euro investment seems like a huge burden for the small company owned by Đengjëll Agalliu, registered in 2024 with a capital of only 100 thousand lek.
The affected residents say, however, that the field work is being carried out by the company "Bervi Construction" of Pëllumb Salillari, which, according to verifications carried out by them, also turns out to be the owner of the land.
The residents claim to have acquired ownership of the land in the early 1990s under Law 7501 – but have never been able to register it in their name. The documents they hold show the land as arable land, but they accuse local institutions of changing its status to “fruitless land.”
"These plots here are private. They belong to me and my brothers, and that's why we have regular AMTPs," says Sander Muja, a resident of the area, as he reaches out his hand towards the border between private and state properties.
"It seems they fell short, they took both the state's and ours," he added.
Nikoll Ndoi angrily says that he has been paying taxes on the land for almost three decades and has tried several times to register it in the Cadastre, but his papers have been returned.
"How is it possible that even though we have tried several times over the past 3 decades to register it as a mortgage, they did not register it for us, and now it turns out that someone else registered it," he asks suspiciously.
Ndoi told BIRN that they had filed complaints with the police, the municipality, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Cadastre to correct the overlap, but had not yet received a response.
Selman Selami, another protesting resident, recalls that their lands have historically been used to produce wheat, alfalfa or oats since 1945, while in the Cadastral documents they are now listed as "fruitless land".
"I live on this land, we have all planted it all year round. I have 80 sheep and if they take my land away, then I have nowhere to keep the livestock," he stressed.
Unlike Boçova, in the neighboring village of Darzeza, the consequences of photovoltaic parks are being experienced more quietly. Residents who initially trusted the promises of private companies today feel disappointed.
“We don’t have any good ones,” said the headman of the village of Darzezë.
"We participated in consultations believing in promises that they would pave the cemetery road, the village road, and provide street lighting, but in reality nothing has been done, plus they are taking away our water," he stressed.
When asked about residents' complaints, the municipalities of the Fier region wash their hands of responsibility.
"These activities are not licensed by the local government," said the Fier Municipality in a written response, adding that the only benefit was that provided through taxes.
Wrong approach
The voluntary development of photovoltaic energy in Albania was initially established as part of agreements with the government. In 2018, the Council of Ministers established a package of support measures for businesses in the renewable energy sector, which, in addition to guaranteeing the market, also made public land available to them.
After the amendment of the Law "On Renewable Energy" in 2023, permits were oriented towards completely private enterprises and open to the free market. But opening the market, without first meeting the country's needs for renewable energy, risks putting the country in a spiral of costs, not only environmental.
According to the National Climate and Energy Plan, the government has committed to meeting the 54.4% quota of renewable energy in total consumption by 2030. But experts say this target is seriously at risk.
According to environmentalist Lavdosh Ferruni, even though solar energy is one of the most desirable resources in the world, the way the government is approaching this sector is wrong.
Ferruni emphasizes that the country has a limited territory and using the land for large export capacities risks putting these initiatives at the service of the profits of private companies.
“It should be 100% production-oriented for its own needs, net exporting requires large spaces and Albania does not have the conditions,” Ferruni told BIRN. “There is also a lot of interest from foreign businesses, so there is a need to control the granting of these permits,” he stressed.
Gjergj Simaku, currently an independent energy expert, is also skeptical for various reasons.
To reach the legal target of 54.4%, Albania would need to increase its domestic electricity consumption by almost 30% by 2030, according to Simaku; which is considered borderline impossible. Another overlooked problem is the depreciation of the country's electricity grid, which according to him generates losses and urgently needs to be regenerated.
"What is happening is absurd. The auctions have been forgotten, now permits are being given only for the free market and it is sold to us as if we will consume that energy, but that is not the case at all," said Simaku.
"If we start feeding the energy from these photovoltaic parks into the grid, the transformers will start burning…," he concluded. /BIRN/
