North Macedonia improves regulatory framework for rooftop PV

The government of North Macedonia has recently improved the net metering scheme for solar installations and has launched a €1 billion rebate scheme to support the deployment of rooftop PV systems under the scheme.

The Ministry of Economy improved the net metering regime by increasing the maximum size for residential PV systems eligible to inject surplus power into the grid from 4 to 6 kW and from 20 to 40 kW for commercial solar arrays.

As for the rebate scheme, it will cover up to 30% of the costs of buying and installing a PV system, with a maximum amount of MKD 62,000 ($1,025) being available for each project.

Furthermore, the local media outlet energetika.net reported that the head of the country’s energy regulator – the ERC – has promised to eliminate all network fees that are currently applied to residential and commercial consumers that install a PV system.

The North Macedonian government is targeting to deploy 250 MW of rooftop PV capacity by 2030, according to its National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP).

North Macedonia is currently also supporting large scale solar through a series of tenders. The most recent one was launched by the Ministry of Economy in July. Other solar tenders were previously held in the country by the state-owned electric company Elektrani na Severna Makedonija (ESM).

According to the latest figures from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the Balkan country had around 94 MW of cumulative installed PV capacity at the end of 2021.