Improvement in power cuts regime for urban areas

TIRANA, Jan.30 – Albania’s power utility KESH said on Tuesday that it had raised daily power imports by 4.6 percent to 11.2 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) and increased domestic production this week. These measures are taken in order to reduce electricity rationing in its main towns. Given the depletion of scarce water reserves used for power generation Albania has raised daily power imports to the maximum of 10.7 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) that its electricity grid allows to bring in. Increased imports are targeted at lowering domestic production and will enable KESH to keep enough water at the lake of Fierze, where the largest electricity generating unit in the country is located, until the rainy season. KESH started importing 11.2 million kWh as of Monday, up from 10.7 million kWh it imported in the previous 10 days. Daily domestic production also was increased, to 7.5 million kWh from some 6.0 million kWh previously. Shorter power cuts are planned for Tirana and Durres, the largest cities where the bills collection rate is the highest in the country. This years crisis has been a result of the combined effects of extreme drought, lack of proper investment and poor management by the power utility KESH. Local media report that the power cuts were longer than the official timetables of KESH, reaching 12 hours in cities and up to 20 hours in the most remote areas. Albania has an excessive dependency on hydropower plants which are accountable for more than 90 percent of its electricity. These power plans are outdated as is the distribution system which causes repeated problems. The worst power cuts are experienced in the rural areas but this year multiple problems have hit even the country’s capital city, Tirana. Projects to solve the crisis and avoid another one include the construction of thermal plants and are getting international financial support. A 92 million euro ($118.6 million) thermal power plant in Vlore, will be built by the KESH-hired Italian construction-to-services company Maire Engineering. It will have a capacity of 85-to-135 megawatt (MW) and a combined-cycle power plant, to be fueled by distillate oil. KESH expects its traditional foreign power suppliers, Swiss power group EGL, Swiss-based Energy Financing Team (EFT) and Greek power utility Public Power Corporation (PPC) to confirm the draft deals for electricity sales to Albania in February and March. The company plans to import between 2.2 billion kWh and 2.4 billion kWh this year.