TIRANA (Albania), November 8 (SeeNews) – The urgently needed steps in the reform of Albania's energy sector have been delayed despite some progress achieved in the aeras of electricity and gas, the Energy Community has said.
“The deadlines for further liberalization and establishment of a power exchange will be missed. Progress was achieved in the sustainability dimension, with adoption of legislation in the field of renewable energy and energy efficiency, and the establishment of the Energy Efficiency Agency,” the secretariat of the Vienna-based organization said in is 2016/2017 implementation report published earlier this week.
The implementation of the Power Sector Law and adoption of the secondary legislation is behind schedule, according to the report. The Albanian transmission system operator (OST) certification procedure is completed but a compliance mechanism is still required.
“New rules for switching, balancing and congestion management were adopted by Energy Regulatory Entity (ERE) to partially bridge the regulatory gap, however, compliant market rules, balancing rules and network codes are not yet in place,” the Energy Community noted.
The unbundling of state-owned power operator OSHEE, deregulation of prices for generation and supply and the establishment of the Albanian power exchange are also in delay.
The organisation also noted that the establishment of an Albanian Power Exchange (APEX), the center of the electricity market model adopted by the government in July 2016, has been delayed by the political instability in the country, adding that the market model empowers the energy ministry to decide on a new deadline before the end of 2017.
Albania’s gas sector achieved progress as regards the priorities set out in the previous report by continuing with the development of acquis-compliant gas market secondary legislation, according to the report.
“Albania progressed significantly by unbundling state-owned oil and gas company Albpetrol and establishing an ownership unbundled transmission system operator, Albgaz.”
In the oil sector, no real progress has been achieved with regard to priorities identified in the previous report and none of the suggested actions have been followed up.
“Albania’s main priority should be to take a decision on the oil stock holding model.”
The main achievement in the renewable energy sector was the adoption of the law on promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources, considered to be the main step towards ensuring compliance with the renewable energy directive and formulating the policy measures needed to reach the government’s 2020 target of 38% energy from renewable sources in gross final energy consumption.
The Energy Community was established in October 2005 with the key aim of extending the EU internal energy market to Southeast Europe and beyond on the basis of a legally binding framework. The international organisation consists of the EU, represented by the European Commission, and the countries of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Macedonia, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia and Ukraine.