TIRANA, Aug. 18, 2022 – As Europe is experiencing an unprecedented summer of high electricity prices, Kosovo became the first country in the continent to announce it would shut off power periodically.
The move came as Prishtina said it could only afford domestically produced electricity, as the international price was too high.
Shortly before the brownouts were to go into effect, Kosovo’s authorities announced that Albania had stepped in to fill the void, and it would supply the needed electricity.
“Thanks to the cooperation between Kosovo and Albania, namely the Energy Corporation of Kosovo (KEK) and the Electricity Corporation of Albania (KESH), it was possible to … continue the regular supply of electricity,” the Kosovo’s Ministry of Economy said.
Currently, Kosovo relies on its two aging coal-fueled power plants to produce 500 megawatts of electricity, while the demand reaches about 800 units.
Kosovo’s authorities had been calling on “all citizens and businesses to take saving measures and be as careful as possible in the use of electricity,” after declaring a power supply emergency.
Albania and Kosovo have a long-standing agreement in place to exchange power as they have two different sources, with Albania relying almost exclusively on hydro-power for its domestic production.
But the country’s public power production and import company, KESH, has been buying large amounts of electricity at a hefty price in the international market this summer, betting that it will be a difficult winter ahead and it needs to save the water in the hydro-power reservoirs, which are not as full as they should be due to draught.
European electricity prices reached record highs in the first week of August as a prolonged heat wave across the continent disrupted power markets that were already under strain from Russia’s cuts to the continent’s gas supplies amid its war with Ukraine
Several countries around Europe, from Norway to the Balkans could face brownouts later this year, according to experts.
Power supply experts in Albania say that at the record level of prices, if there is no large amount of precipitation by October, Albania could face a tough time ahead.
KESH is looking to start operating a fall-back fuel powered plant in Vlora in the fall if the current situation continues.
