TIRANA, June.11- The Albanian Electro energy Corporation plans to import 108 million euro worth of energy during the second half of 2007. The import of electricity has continued throughout the year, with June imports reaching 7 million euro.
A tender will be launched for 108 million euro to purchase 1,458 billion kilowatt/ hours of electricity.
The bid has been made public by the Agency of Public procurements and the event will be held on June 22. The purchase of electricity has been separated into lots and many foreign companies are expected to participate in the bid. Despite the continuous engagement of the KESH director in lowering the amount of energy theft, the lack of rain in the northern part of the country, where most of the hydropower units are located and the low capacities of domestic production, have made the energy situation quite dire.
KESH is experiencing financial difficulties which the government is trying to address with a $ 50 million debt to the corporation.
KESH has announced that during the summer there will be power rationing, especially during the night hours when local production will halt.
Natural reserves situation
Experts predict that 2007 is going to be, overall, a dry year which is not good news to Albanians. The level of water at the hydropower producing units in this first quarter of 2007 has been 2.3 times lower than the previous year. During April of last year, Fierza Lake, one of the most important reserves, remained steady at a depth of 295.5 meter while this year it has dropped 20 meters. One reason for low water levels has been the maximum usage of these units given the high electricity demand. The deficit of energy in Albania this year has been estimated as high as 1 billion kilowatt/hour.
