January 12 (SeeNews) - North Macedonia's energy regulator said it expects the country's capacity for production of electricity from renewable energy sources to increase by 250-300 MW this year.
In 2022, the the Energy and Water Services Regulatory Commission (ERC) issued licences to 267 renewable energy plants with a total installed capacity of 152.2 MW, or 7% more compared to a year before, it said in a press release on Wednesday.
"The electricity generated by these plants can meet the needs of 65,700 households," ERC chair Marko Bislimoski was quoted as saying.
The commission issued licences to solar plants with a total installed capacity of 106.5 MW, wind parks with 36 MW capacity, small hydropower plants with 7.2 MW capacity, and biogas thermal power plants with 2.5 MW capacity in 2022.
In the beginning of 2022, the finance ministry said it expects the share of renewable energy sources in North Macedonia's electricity generation to reach 46% by 2025.
The share of renewable energy sources in North Macedonia's gross electricity production was 22.9% in 2019, according to the latest available data from the environment ministry.