KESH’s record production meets only 80 percent of Albania’s needs in 2009, but it was an improvement from a year earlier, when production covered only 58 percent of domestic consumption
TIRANA, March 9 – With a record-breaking raining season and better management, KESH, the state-owned energy production company, said it produced 5.2 billion kilowatt hours of electricity in 2009, the highest amount since 2006.
However, even at record production levels, domestic production covered only 80 percent of consumption in Albania last year, but it was an improvement from a year earlier, when production covered only 58 percent of domestic consumption.
That, experts say, shows that all the energy projects currently underway are necessary not only for Albania to export energy, but also to meet its own growing demand for electricity.
The data comes from the annual report of the Energy Regulatory Entity, which was submitted to the Albanian Parliament last week.
KESH is mostly dependent on its hydroelectric power plants, so the cause of increased energy production was the increase the quantity of water available. In 2009, KESH had available to 6 billion cubic meters of water, compared to by 4.12 had billion in 2008.
Production increased 35 percent compared with 2008, when it was 3.8 billion kWh.
The Energy Regulatory Entity, the official regulator for electricity in Albania, said in its report that the efficiency of water use in rivers has improved greatly in recent years, but KESH stands to further increase its efficiency.
ERE also suggested more efficient ways of importing and exporting electricity in the 24 hour cycle, since the level of electricity consumption at night in Albania is very low.
“This creates an excellent opportunity for KESH to perform financial transactions through the sale for profit of electricity in regional energy exchange,” says the report. “Accumulation of water during the night hours to use during the day in rush hours to produce energy and to sell it on the market at peak prices, represents a profitable transaction that increases the efficiency of our generation resources.”
Those methods are one of the few ways to preserve energy, because the vast majority of electricity produced by power plants in the world cannot be stored. It has to be consumed seconds after production.
The price of energy sold at night is five times lower than the selling price during the peak hours. Hydroelectric plants, unlike other power plants, can be switched off and save the water. That can lead to substantial profits from Albania’s hydropower plants.
