TIRANA, Feb. 17 – The Albanian government has drafted a law that targets changing some 288 hectares of the agricultural land in the former Maliq swamp in southeastern Albania into a mining area that will be used to generate electricity from organic matter, paving the way to the construction of the first turf-fired thermal power plant. The government says it has received several proposals to use the turf-rich area for electricity generation from a new thermal power plant in the local Maliq area.
Studies show the former Maliq swamp has a presence of 156 million m3 of turf that could generate annual electricity of 500,000 MWHel with an investment of 170 million euros in a thermal power plant and heating infrastructure.
Part of the electricity is scheduled for greenhouse heating and heating in the city of Korà§a.
The government considers the project as strategic for the further diversification of the hydro-dependent domestic electricity production.
The Saranda area in southernmost Albania is also reported to have a richer turf potential with an estimated 1.3 million m3.
