Albania is one of the six countries selected for a UN project to promote solar energy to heat water. The $2.8 million program will be installing 75,000 square meters in solar energy collectors.
TIRANA, Dec. 6 – Plagued by blackouts on bad years, and barely scrapping by enough electricity on good ones, Albania is always looking for new sources of energy. Now, with the help of the United Nations, it is turning to solar power for a cheap and clean energy source.
Albania is one of six countries selected for a UN project to promote solar energy to heat water. As part of the program, Albania will be installing 75,000 square meters in energy collectors.
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the UN Environment Protection (UNEP) included Albania on a global initiative to transform the solar energy market for heating water. The project aims to promote the use of solar panels as a way that avoids contamination of the atmosphere with greenhouse gases. The other five participating countries are Algeria, Lebanon, India, Mexico and Chile.
Albania will get about $2.8 million for the project, while larger countries like India or Mexico about three times that amount.
The project brings together different countries to facilitate the exchange of experiences. Its goal is global and will be implemented in the context of developing clean, sustainable energy that helps mitigate climate change in general.
The project will last 4 years, reaching a collector surface of 75,000 square meters at its height.
Albania is a party to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change and has ratified the Kyoto Agreement to reduce emissions in the atmosphere of gases with greenhouse effects. Its involvement in this project is considered as the first step towards establishing a long-term national market this field.
Mirela Kamberi, the Albania representative of the UN Program on Climate Change says reducing carbon emissions in Albania requires the drafting of relevant legislation but also finding financial solutions.
“Through international experience, we know that using banking institutions to find financial mechanisms makes it easier for customers to purchase and deploy solar panels in their homes, in public institutions or in the tourism and trade sectors,” Ms. Kamberi told German public broadcaster DW.
Using the program in question in Albania means that by 2014, the use of solar panels is expected to reduce emissions by 800,000 tons of carbon into the atmosphere.
Isabella Floer, project coordinator at the global level, told DW there were good reasons why these countries were selected.
“We have chosen them from around the world to have perspectives from different areas and levels of development in the water heating market through solar energy,” Ms. Floer said.
