Warning that Balkan economic growth will suffer from energy shortages

BELGRADE, Serbia, June 23 – Energy experts said Monday that Southeast Europe will face a severe electricity shortage in coming years that will consequently have a negative impact on its economic growth.
Experts also criticized governments for subsidies that have kept electricity prices artificially low and for doing little to step up production or offer alternative sources of energy.
Studies by KPMG, a leading financial management consultancy, and the European Stability Initiative, an independent research institute based in Berlin, found that significant investments would be needed in energy generation and infrastructure in Southeast Europe in coming years to overcome decades of neglect. Currently, half-a-dozen power plants are being built or expanded in Bulgaria, Bosnia, Romania and Slovenia. But even if they all come on-line, as planned by 2015, their combined output will be less than half the anticipated growth in consumption. Southeast Europe, Albania included, comprises a dozen countries with a combined population of 73 million people.
The region has a combined installed electrical power of about 76 gigawatts, barely enough to fulfill current requirements. The region has large unexploited hydropower potential and the largest lignite coal reserves in Europe. Experts said that, at the moment, nations like Albania, Macedonia and Greece barely meet their domestic needs. Further, Albania was never mentioned by the experts as a base to become an exporting country in the region, as pledged by the Albanian government. Nor was it mentioned that Tirana has offered to build a nuclear reactor in the country. (Tirana Times Staff)