北マケドニア、ギガワット規模のプロジェクトパイプライン統合に向けて準備

Professor Dimitar Dimitrov tells pv magazine that while a new permitting regime has temporarily slowed development, a multi-gigawatt pipeline of solar and storage projects points to a sharp acceleration once regulatory and grid constraints are resolved. The post North Macedonia prepares to integrate gigawatt-sized project pipeline appeared first on pv magazine Global . Professor Dimitar Dimitrov tells pv magazine that while a new permitting regime has temporarily slowed development, a multi-gigawatt pipeline of solar and storage projects points to a sharp acceleration once regulatory and grid constraints are resolved. The post North Macedonia prepares to integrate gigawatt-sized project pipeline appeared first on pv magazine Global . There is strong investor interest in North Macedonia, with a project pipeline far exceeding the country’s existing solar fleet. North Macedonia installed around 210 MW of solar last year, taking its cumulative solar capacity past the 1 GW threshold. Under the country’s 2026 annual energy construction plan, the Ministry of Energy, Mining and Mineral Resources has approved 59 solar projects with a combined capacity of over 3 GW. Professor Dimitar Dimitrov, from the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje and Macedonian solar association Solar Macedonia, told pv magazine during the Smarter E event in Munich, Germany, that the construction plan approved a total 4.4 GW of new power projects. Approvals in this year’s plan represent a sharp increase on the approvals from the 2025 annual plan, which featured 1.2 GW of power plants, including 812 MW of solar. Stefan Trajkov, project manager at Solar Macedonia, told pv magazine that the newly-formed ministry requires all new power plants to be within these investment plans. “We do believe that those investments will be fulfilled by more than 100 members we have at our association,” he said. Regulatory shift While these project approvals indicate that North Macedonia’s installed capacity is set to accelerate in the coming years once these projects materialize, Dimitrov explained this year has seen a temporary slowdown in project development as a major regulatory shift introduced under a new energy law adopted in 2025 comes into play. Dimitrov said that all generation projects must pass through a new permitting system before receiving construction approval. Under this new framework, developers must first submit a so-called initiative, which is assessed before they can proceed to licensing stages. “So every power plant which is to be built should go through the process and when accepted the investor can continue with the procedure to obtain the construction license,” Dimitrov told pv magazine. He added that the transition has effectively slowed the pipeline in the short term. “It made a vacuum period where there was a pause in starting new constructions, especially for PV plants,” Dimitrov said, before adding that he expects the slowdown to be temporary, pointing to strong underlying demand from developers as he predicted a boom in the coming years. Grid constraints Grid capacity stands as a key barrier to realizing North Macedonia’s gigawatt-sized project pipeline. Dimitrov told pv magazine that all the projects approved under the 2025 and 2026 construction plans will have to go through many procedures to turn the investment into reality, including the obtaining of construction permits. He singled out the connection to the grid as the biggest challenge. “All of these power plants cannot be installed unless the grid is strengthened,” he said. Storage development There is also growing interest in storage in North Macedonia, with the new energy law imposing that solar and wind power plants are co-located with storage systems. Dimitrov shared there are plans for 3.5 GWh of co-located storage and 1.5 GWh of standalone storage in North Macedonia, according to recent figures. “The interest is really great,” he said, while explaining that the shift is closely linked to price formation in a solar-heavy system, where midday oversupply is already driving prices down to as low as zero for several hours during the day. CBAM exposure Another structural factor influencing project economics is the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), which Dimitrov described as a potential constraint on cross-border electricity flows. Without a fully accredited system for guarantees of origin, Macedonian electricity risks being treated as carbon-intensive in external markets, limiting export competitiveness. This creates a dynamic where surplus generation is increasingly absorbed domestically or within neighbouring non-CBAM markets, particularly during high solar output periods. Dimitrov also highlighted the country’s broader structural transformation of North Macedonia’s energy system, including the planned phase-out of lignite generation by 2030. This transition is being supported through a portfolio of around 80 projects focused on renewable deployment, institutional reform, and workforce retraining, financed by international institutions including the EBRD, World Bank, and KfW. “It’s a really busy time for the people working in solar,” he added. The post North Macedonia prepares to integrate gigawatt-sized project pipeline appeared first on pv magazine Global .