New report: Faster renewables permitting key to Western Balkans' energy security and EU path 

Speeding up renewable energy permitting is becoming increasingly vital for the Western Balkans, according to new Policy Guidelines from the Energy Community Secretariat’s Centre for Renewables Acceleration, funded by Open Society Foundations – Western Balkans (OSF–WB). It is key both to meeting climate goals on the region’s path to EU integration and to securing energy supplies in an increasingly turbulent geopolitical landscape. The guidelines therefore set out practical approaches to tackling the main permitting obstacles.

As of 2024, the Western Balkans had 23 GW of wind and solar projects in development, yet only 1.5 GW are currently installed. National Energy and Climate Plans aim to add some 10 GW by 2030. Because slow and complex permitting is a major barrier to turning this pipeline into operating projects, the guidelines recommend that authorities stop assessing projects one at a time. Instead, it recommends they decide in advance which areas are best suited for fast-tracked renewable energy development.

A key tool is Renewables Acceleration Areas (RAAs), a core instrument of the EU’s revised Renewable Energy Directive (RED III). Authorities identify zones where renewables can be built with limited environmental and land-use conflict, and assess them in advance at the planning stage. Drawing extensively on emerging experience across EU Member States, the Note offers practical guidance to Western Balkan authorities on implementing RAAs. Among other things, it advises authorities to:

• Start now: even before RED III becomes a legal obligation for the region under the Energy Community Treaty, authorities are encouraged to use existing spatial plans, available data and pilot projects to begin identifying potential acceleration areas.
• Assess early: identify environmental sensitivities, competing land uses and necessary mitigation measures when areas are designated in spatial plans, before individual projects apply for permits.
• Prioritise low-conflict areas: focus on areas where land-use conflicts are likely to be lowest, such as former mines and industrial or degraded land.
• Map constraints together: combine renewable potential with biodiversity, land-use, infrastructure and grid data, so that authorities and investors can see where development is realistically possible.
• Avoid fragmented governance: establish clear leadership and permanent coordination between energy, environment, planning, grid and local authorities.
• Maximise the local value of the renewable investments: engage communities early, while locations and design choices can still be influenced
• Turn RAAs into investment-ready areas: give investors certainty about where renewable projects should go and under what environmental and planning conditions.

The Centre is already applying this approach in Bitola (North Macedonia) and Elbasan (Albania), supporting renewables on former coal-mining and metallurgical sites and linking clean energy to a just transition for affected communities.

The Advisory Note was prepared within the framework of the project Accelerating Renewable Energy Deployment and Just Transition in the Western Balkans: Energy Community Centre for Permitting and Planning, implemented by the Energy Community Secretariat and funded by Open Society Foundations – Western Balkans (OSF–WB).