Recently, the Albanian government has compiled national energy strategy with a special focus on promoting the use of renewable energy sources (RES) which identifies a target of 42% of the final energy consumption from RES by 2030. In this paper, analyses are conducted in order to investigate to which extent and way the absorption capacity of the power system from RES electricity can be improved. As an effective approach of implementing wind power, fostering the accommodation of renewable energy sources, especially on large-scale, a detailed techno-economic analysis of the 164 MW installed grid-connected wind farm, considered as a potential source, Korça district is analyzed. Conjoining two different types energy tools, RETScreen, a tool used on plant scale level and EnergyPLAN model applied for large energy system on national level including all energy sectors an optimization process is notably focused to attain 42% of the final energy consumption from RES by 2030, which was highly preformed in EnergyPLAN model. The results execute in EnergyPLAN identifies that the wind power capacity should be at least1850 MW and an installation cost not more than 1.1m€/ MW considering a bench mark price of electricity €76/MWh. The results of the study highlight the importance of high levels of RES integration which not only reduces greenhouse gases but will technically favor the creation of a flexible and sustainable energy system over time. Finally, the need for a sustainable and clear national energy model is inevitable, reshaping key points factors that hamper the integration on large-scale of wind power in Albania.

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.

The focus of the paper is to identify for the first time the most adequate energy storage systems (ESS) applicable in the central or bulk generation of the electricity sector in Albania. The application and integration of ESS is a smart way to overcome the problems of timely power supply volatility and minimizing energy losses, transmission congestion relief and upgrade deferral (top 10%), energy time shift (arbitrage), and many other services that reduce the cost of electricity and gain the security of energy supply. The presence of high-level rates of water discharges into the Hydropower Power Plants (HPP) and the problems of congestion in the transmission grid are the two main problems that require new methods for addressing and solving them. To select the right form and type of ESS that should be applied in our national energy system, E-select, a very flexible and internationally approved model is chosen. The results of this study are necessary for achieving a flexible, cheaper, and environmentally friendly energy system in Albania.