Energy crisis at the gates

By Alba Cela
TIRANA, December 2006 – Gone are the promises of the state-owned Albanian electricity supplier KESH about a crisis-free winter. Many Albanians were fooled by the serious declarations of Economy Minister Genc Ruli and KESH Executive Director Andi Beli that Albania has the right combination key of imports and local production to go through the iron gates of winter without an economic stagnation or a business paralyze like that of last year. Power shortages have started to plague the country from the rural zones that suffer the longer hours to key strategic points like the port of Durr쳠whose activity was frozen for more than 24 hours last weekend. The situation is still going to get worse. The entire West Balkans region expects further difficulties given the gradual but definitive closing of the Bulgarian nuclear plant Kozloduy upon the country’s successful acceptance in the EU this January. This makes the prospects of importing from the region quite bleak. In mid-October there was an announcement that a power line with the capacity of 400kv will be built according to the latest memorandum of agreement between Albania and the UN-run Province of Kosovo. Kosovo’s energy ministry published a feasibility study determining the connection sites of the line. According to this publication the power plant Kosova B, located near Prishtina, would be connected to the sub-station of Kashar, near Tirana, realizing thus an important amount of energy exchange. The hydroelectric unit of Vau i Dejes would be the most important transition point of the line. 250.2 kilometers of power lines would have to be built out of which the majority will be in Albania. The first segment of the line, which would run from Kosova B to Vau i Dejes, would cost $ 64 million. The line though has no energy to transport. The winter has not yet shown his bare teeth and Albanians are already consuming by loads. Excessive consumption should not surprise anyone give the country’s lack of alternative ways for heating and cooking. Natural gas still remains unpopular. What should we expect? The alarming roars of power generators scattered in Tirana that make it resemble Baghdad during the bombardments? The dark and cold nights spent at home wrapped in a blanket counting the hours until our quarter is allowed to have its ration of electricity? Fear the blocking of the elevators? The freezing of activity at our job places? Our work documents at the constant threat of being lost due to malfunctioning computers? Sure the government is stepping in to patch up the wounds with threadbare bandages. After failing to procure a single provider for its imports KESH has finally decided to buy from five different ones. Director Beli is spending more hours airborne traveling throughout the region from Greece to Slovenia to beg for some energy. There is no need to blame one person for having inherited one of the less-functioning companies in the country. No later than Thursday he produced a statement that we need 7-8 million KWh imports per day to overcome the situation. There is also a sincere hope and good-will that he succeeds. But how realistic can these solutions be faced with the long-standing unsustainable situation. Relying in hydropower plants has just worsened the dependency on unpredictable factors like weather. Plans to build thermo-power plants abound but have still to be realized. Meanwhile the relationship between KESH and its consumers runs along traditional hostility lines. One example: In an angry note last month KESH warned consumers in Shkodra not only to pay their money but also to take care of the materials used from KESH to rehabilitate their network. A KESH statement angrily denounced theft of the cable used by a Croatian company to install a 110 KW new line for the northern city with a total investment of 11 million Euro. The statement said stealing 12 meters of the cable used for the system was threatening the continuation of the project from the Croatian company. The corporation publishes daily the list of the consumers, be they individuals, private or public companies that have not paid their duties for the power consume. It is impressively negative though how it is treating the starting crisis with no transparency and accountability whatsoever. Continuous declarations to the media blame technical problems and power-line amortization when it is quite obvious that the shortages are far from being irregular but start and finish at determined hours. Certainly the distribution system needs an upgrade and often it is responsible for electricity deprivation.
KESH also presented this week a proposal to overturn the reduce in prices for business customers , overturning the promise of Prime Minister Berisha who boasted long ago about supporting the business community with favorable energy prices. Foreign owned businesses are threatening to close up their investment projects in case the situation does not change. The good old economics laws are in rule. Price does not matter is supply can not be guaranteed. Nevertheless, the current situation is much more structural. It is inherited from long years of mismanagement and lack of investment in the energy sector despite annual crisis.
All eyes are still glued to media to watch the latest carnival-style local elections with colorful coalitions changing shape in miraculous fashion. With the upcoming longer hours of deprivations perhaps Albanians will finally find the time to reflect and react to the deep structural handicaps that condition their lives. Yet there is no guarantee. Political developments still constitute the major concern of the local constituency. A recent survey concerning integration has shown that Albanians see their future tied up to political developments even when it comes to integration. There are those officials of KESH who repeat the mantra of repairs as the cause of shortages, unable to accept their own failure. And then there are those who can not be fooled easily and that unfortunately take justice upon their own hands like the villagers of Bitincke, deprived of power for an average of 16 hours per day who threaten to block the road that leads to the Kapshtica customs office, a major border point with Greece. To sum up the energy crisis is at the gates and unless a structural reform overhauls the entire energy sector this will not be our last winter of discontent. KESH is already planning to rely on imports next year fro nothing less than the substantial 2.206 million MWh.