This article describes a new method to more accurately evaluate the wind potential of 5 areas of interest in southern Albania. Using the WAsP simulation program, the authors were able to compare the wind data from the Balkan Wind Atlas (BWA) and the New European Wind Atlas (NEWA) to real wind measurements in Mamaj, Tepelenë, and showed that NEWA is closer to real wind conditions in Albania than BWA. Furthermore, by analyzing wind speed, power density and wind direction, the authors illustrate BWA and NEWA match closely in the five areas of interest in Albania, although BWA tends to overestimate wind potential more. The wind power class was evaluated and four from the five areas of interest were deemed appropriate for establishing wind farms. The authors analyzed eight different wind turbine types and identified the wind turbine with the highest capacity factor for the region to be SG 2.1-114 wind turbine. The potential electricity production from the proposed wind farms was evaluated using the RETScreen Expert program. This research allows for experts to more confidently use wind atlas data to evaluate wind potential in the region of Southern Albania. Finally, these results confirm the electricity potential from building wind farms in the areas of interest, which will contribute to the fulfillment of energy demand in the country and reduce imports in the energy sector.

This article presents a highly important and detailed techno-economic analysis of a grid-connected wind farm, considered as one of the most potential location in the south of Albania, part of Tepelena region, Mamaj village. The procedure of selection of the wind turbine type is performed by evaluating the maximum Capacity Factor (CF) among 15 different types of wind turbines applied using WAsP energy tool enabling the optimization of energy system while economic analysis uses a Monte Carlo simulation well designed on RETScreen Expert tool. This modeling framework can address some beneficial values and solution which can be used from policy makers in the country to better assess the penetration of renewable energy sources into a large scale by finding the exact selling price of electricity and correcting the latest decrease of bonus factor from 1.3 in 2019 to 1.2 in 2020, which should be adjusted by a factor of 1.4. To check the economic feasibility of this project, the parameter of net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR) and simple payback period (SPB) are adjusted accordingly and the financial feasible investment zone is determined.

The development of the electricity sector in Albania continues to be fenced by high rates of inefficiencies, insufficient security of supply, low rate of RES investment including wind power plants and the need to further unbundle and liberalise the energy market following the adoption of the legal basis, including GHG credits is inevitable. A lot of issues are set to face the challenges of energy transition, oriented by the Albanian government's endeavor to maintain a sustainable, secure, flexible in time, efficiently supplied, climate-friendly and affordable energy supply system is required. The most critical aspects to attain 2030 energy goals and beyond cannot be achieved without the promotion of carbonless power technologies reducing (GHG) emissions. As a consequence, huge investments in RES energy based power generation systems and related RES technologies are required. To subjugate the barriers to clean energy technology implementation especially at the preliminary feasibility stage, the latest model, RETScreen Expert 8 added the ability to rapidly analyze the feasibility of multiple wind power plant options at real site condition. This fast feature of the model enables us to assess the real potential of the proposed 27 MW wind farm by choosing a set of 16 different turbine types and models combined into 14 possible scenarios with the aim to expand the capacity in the future is applied. From the simulation executed in RETScreen Expert the technical and economic optimization of the proposed energy system is achieved. Sector-specific actions are explored in the paper, but at the higher level of specific investment costs and a number of cross-cutting actions that should be addressed with urgency from policy makers in the country are identified.