The solar energy revolution in Albania arrived without warning last September in the village of Bocova, in the Fier region of western Albania, a few kilometres from the Adriatic Sea, when heavy machinery began digging alongside cultivated fields.
At first, the villagers had no idea what was happening. Local resident Nikoll Ndoi became concerned when he discovered that the land he had worked and used for 30 years now belonged to a private company.
“It turned out they’re building a photovoltaic park here, and that the land is no longer ours,” Ndoi said, angrily. He said he had tried to register the land in his own name for 30 years but had not been able to: “And then someone comes along one day and manages to do it without any problem.”
The photovoltaic park planned for Bocova, among the largest solar energy projects in Albania, was approved by the government in June 2025. But for the 14 families living there, the facility will overlap land that they claim as their own.
Albania is highly dependent on hydropower as an energy source, and the government has been pushing forward with solar energy projects as it diversifies renewable energy sources.
But the dispute in Bocova is not an isolated case. Since 2018, the government has issued dozens of permits for the construction of photovoltaic parks across the country, driven by its ambition to achieve “energy sovereignty” and turn Albania into a net exporter of electricity by 2030.
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