Albanian private electricity producers now hold a larger share of the country’s total electricity generation capacity than the state-owned utility KESH, marking a major shift in the national energy landscape. The growth of solar power has been the main factor behind this development, with solar installations now representing about 10 percent of total installed capacity.
KESH lost its monopoly on electricity generation in 2007 when the government began issuing hydropower concessions. According to the Energy Regulatory Authority (ERE), private producers surpassed KESH in total capacity during 2024, a milestone in Albania’s electricity market. The country’s total installed capacity reached 3.21 GW last year, an increase of 537 MW compared to 2023, largely due to a surge in solar projects. Private operators now control around 1.65 GW, while KESH manages approximately 1.56 GW, or 48.6 percent of the total. A year earlier, KESH still held a majority share of 56 percent. Despite this shift, hydropower plants continue to produce about three times more electricity than solar facilities of comparable capacity.
Albania remains unique in the Western Balkans as it has no coal-fired power plants and relies almost entirely on hydropower, making its energy system highly dependent on rainfall and drought cycles. The state utility continues to play a vital role through its large hydropower cascade on the Drin River.
Private investment in renewable energy has accelerated in recent years, with companies such as Norway’s Statkraft operating the Devoll hydropower plants, Turkey’s Ayen Enerji developing projects along the Fan River, and Austria’s Verbund managing the Ashta complex on the Drin. The government is now working to diversify the energy mix by expanding solar and wind capacity and introducing storage technologies, although no wind turbines have yet been installed in the country.