New Kosova Report

Austrian Hydro Plants for southern Albania

Friday, 25 January 2008

EVN AG

Austrian utility company EVN AG announced on Friday that it had won a tender to construct three hydro-electric power plants in southern Albania at an estimated cost of €612 million. EVN was declared the winner of an international tender to build the three power plants on the Devoll river with a total output of approximately 400 megawatts.

The planned project is the first concrete result of the agreement signed by the government of Lower Austria, the Republic of Albania and EVN in early 2007.

The company sees the development of the Devoll plants as a first step towards increased urilisation of Albania’s large hydroelectric power potential.

Over the past two years Albania has been hit by an acute energy crisis, with regular power cuts throughout the country, including the capital Tirana.

Almost all of Albania's domestically-produced electricity is generated by hydro-power plants, which can be badly affected by drought, and even when rain is plentiful, the obsolete distribution grid causes major problems.

International organizations that monitor the Albanian economy, including the IMF and the World Bank, have expressed concern that the energy crisis could have an adverse effect on the country’s robust economic growth, which has been averaging close to 6% per annum in recent years.

In recent weeks, two Italian companies announced plans for the construction of major wind farms and other renewable energy projects in Albania.