Albania on the eve of another energy crisis

TIRANA, Dec. 5 – Albanian power utility KESH announced on Tuesday that it will import 101,000 MWh of electricity up to the end of February. The decision involves cooperation with three companies from three different countries. Klodiana Gjinaj, spokeswoman of KESH said that 37,200 MWh will be bought in December from the Swiss company Energy Financing Team (EFT). This will ensure the delivery of 1,200 MWh a day. KESH has reached an agreement with the Greek power utility Public Power Corporation (PPC) in order to borrow 60,000 MWh in the three-month period, of which around 1,000 MWh will be transmitted daily in the peak consumption periods. This amount of energy will be returned to PPC between June and August 2007, when the local Albanian demand is lower. For the current month of December, the Slovenian power supplier Istrabenz Gorenje will sell 3,720 MWh of electricity. Tirana started again this week to rumble again from the noise of the power generators all the shops and bars put outside to supply themselves with electricity. They were a clear sign that the energy crisis is knocking again in the country. The power corporation, KESH, has yet to accept that it has started the regular shutdowns but capital Tirana and all the other areas suffer daily cuts without any notice at all. Exempt from the power cuts were embassies, international institutions, hospitals, water supply stations and television stations. The power company’s problems have been compounded by high world energy prices and a significant drop in water levels at northern Albanian plants that produce the bulk of its electricity. Sources from the Fierza Hydropower Station confirm that the lake is only 20 meters away from a complete halt of operations in the electricity producing plant. Currently the lake stands at 164m above sea level. The impact is being felt especially in the northeast region of Albania with the city of Kukes, the nearest to the station suffering up to 8 hours of shortages during the day. The meteorological situation is not helping the country’s dependence upon generous rainfall in the winter months. The imports are needed urgently to avoid the energy crisis. The outdated power plants are unable to produce enough electricity to cover domestic demand. For next year, electricity imports are planned as well at the amount of 2.206 million MWh.