Energy Community Secretariat backs Bitola's and Elbasan’s just transition journey to become renewable energy hubs   

Bitola and Elbasan to pioneer the development of Renewable Acceleration Areas in the Energy Community with support from the Secretariat’s Centre for Renewables Acceleration

The Energy Community Secretariat has signed two Memoranda of Understanding to support the municipalities of Bitola, North Macedonia and Elbasan, Albania, on their decarbonisation pathways and the faster deployment of renewable energy. Both municipalities have long been regional hotspots for fossil fuel production or consumption. Bitola is situated in the centre of North Macedonia's most important coal-mining region. Elbasan has been Albania's historic industrial heartland and the centre of carbon-based steel production in Albania. Both municipalities are working to transform into future-oriented, decarbonised clean energy and industry hubs.  

The support will be delivered through the Secretariat's Centre for Renewables Acceleration, which provides Contracting Parties across the Western Balkans with hands-on technical assistance on renewables permitting reform and planning. In the Western Balkans, the Centre is supported by the Open Society Foundations – Western Balkans (OSF-WB). Bitola and Elbasan were selected as two pilot projects following a call for expressions of interest earlier this year, designed to identify concrete needs the Centre could address.

The two pilot projects covered by the MoUs are intended to be replicable, offering a template that other carbon-dependent countries, regions and municipalities across the Western Balkans can adapt and apply. This is especially important as the region works to fulfil its EU-aligned energy and climate commitments under the Energy Community treaty, prerequisites for future integration with the EU's internal energy markets. 

Under the newly signed MoU, the Centre will support Bitola and Elbasan in a comprehensive manner, including in developing Renewable Acceleration Areas. These areas, identified as key tools in the latest version of the EU's Renewable Energy Directive (RED III), are designated areas where renewable energy projects can be developed and permitted rapidly, while preventing potential harm to biodiversity. The Energy Community's highest decision-making body, the Ministerial Council, has recommended that Contracting Parties designate and implement Renewable Acceleration Areas ahead of the full incorporation of RED III in the Energy Community legal framework. 

In addition to helping achieve targets necessary for EU energy market integration, the establishment of Renewable Acceleration Areas in Bitola and Elbasan could have a significant social and economic impact.   By providing a predictable framework for investors and accelerating project development, they could attract renewable energy investment and related clean industries — from sustainable infrastructure services to digitalised energy management systems and future green manufacturing.