Albania to decide between ENEL and PPC-RWE JV for new power plant sources

TIRANA, June 5 – Albanian Prime Minister Berisha has met with representatives of a consortium comprised of RWE (Rheinisch-Westf孩sches Elektrizit嵳werk AG), PPC (Greek Public Power Corporation) and Titan, a Greek owned cement producer. The chair of the Greek PPC, Takis Athanasopoulos, presented a plan for building a coal fuelled power plant in Albania.
The plans include the building of a power plant able to generate 500-800 MW. The consortium also proposed a possible site for the new power plant at Porto Romano, just 10 km away from Durr쳬 the largest harbour in Albania. Mr. Athanasopoulos said the cement company, Titan, has a experience with investments in Albania and is persuading other partners to invest in Albania, also.
Prime Minister Berisha praised the plans and the willingness of Greek and German companies to invest in Albania. Berisha informed the Italian-owned ENEL that it is also looking to build a coal fuelled power plant in Albania. Berisha said the Albanian government was going to choose between the two projects based upon their environmental and technical merits.
RWE AG (until 1990: Rheinisch-Westf孩sches Elektrizit嵳werk AG), is a German electric power and natural gas public utility based in Essen. Through its various subsidiaries, the energy company provides electricity and gas to more than 20 million electricity customers and 10 million gas customers, principally in Europe. RWE is the second largest electricity producer in Germany. RWE has alos acquired American Water, the United States’ largest investor-owned water utility. RWE earned, in 2007, Euro 2,659 million.
The Public Power Corporation (PPC S.A.) of Greece is the largest electric power company in Greece. PPC was incorporated in 1950. Its main purpose was to plan and apply a national energy policy which, through the exploitation of domestic products and resources, would distribute cheap electric power to all Greek citizens. PPC began the integration of the small local grids to the national interconnected grid. Net income amounted to Euro 222.3 million, compared to Euro 22.1 million in 2006, an increase of Euro 200.2 million.