Albania Eyes New Energy Park

Tirana, Nov. 11, 2008 (AENews) – Albanian authorities approved on Monday the construction of a large energy park in the Porto Romano area, close to the port city of Durres.

The council for the regulation of the territory for the area of Durres approved the construction of the park with 15 votes in favor and one against it.

The energy park will include a three million tones oil refinery, an 800 MW coal fired thermal power plant, and a gas and bio-diesel terminal. The construction of the project will be carried on by the Italian energy giant ENEL.

Enel ultimately plans to build its plant, fuelled by imported coal, with a generating capacity of approximately 1,300 MW, which would supply electricity to both the Italian and Albanian markets.

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 are badly affected by droughts, but 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 2006.

Short URL: http://www.albanianeconomy.com/news/?p=602

Posted by editor on Nov 11 2008. Filed under Business, Invest-Inform, Photo Gallery. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry