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Enel to Transfer its Investments in Albania
Tirana, Dec. 17, 2008 (AENews) – Italian energy giant Enel intends to cancel its projected investments in Italy and to transfer them to Albania, in order to bypass environmental costs, newsitaliapress.it reported on Tuesday.
Local politician from the Veneto region in Italian north-east, Renzo Marangon, said in a press release that he was informed about the possible abandon of a 2 billion Euro worth project in Porto Tolle in North-East of Italy, after that a court ordered Enel to improve its technology and to reduce pollution, something that would rise the cost of investment.
“I have been informed that Enel CEO, Fulvio Conti, have communicated with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Albanian Sali Berisha, about the possibility to transfer in Albania this investment”, Renzo Marangon said in a press release. Mr. Marangon is concerned about the loose of business and jobs for his region.
On December 3 2007, Enel’s CEO Fulvio Conti and the Albanian Minister of Economy, Trade and Energy Genc Ruli signed a memorandum of understanding for the development of the Albanian energy sector. Under the agreement the company committed to the development of a 1,300 MW coal-fired plant and the construction of a power interconnection line with Italy.
However, environmental groups charge that Albania does need such large power plants and they are being built without informing the public fairly on their environmental impact.
“At one meeting that Enel held with local villagers to discuss the environmental impact, they spoke in English,” Xhemal Mato, head of Albania’s Environmental League told Balkan Insight.
According to Mato, with the plants Albania will move from having 98 percent of its power generation carbon emission free, to roughly 40 per cent.
“The only reason Enel is coming to Albania is that they cannot pollute at home,” he added.
According to the regional environmental organization South East Europe Development Watch, SEEDW, ENEL it’s relying on Albania’s developing country status under the Kyoto Protocol, to promote a series of carbon-heavy power generation facilities.
: The chequered history of the Durres coal-fired thermo-power plant, instigated by the Albanian Ministry of Economy, Trade and Energy and eyed by the Italian energy company Enel, illustrates how a country in transition has chosen to deal with the legacy of an obsolete energy strategy, a chaotic political culture and dominant foreign investors,” notes SEEDW.
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 organisations that monitor the Albanian economy, including the International Monetary Fund 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 percent per annum since 2006.
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2 Responses for “Enel to Transfer its Investments in Albania”
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Unbeliveable! At least don’t build them along the coast!
Whilst Albania needs an improved and reliable energy source, this should not be at the risk of being polluted. Enel should be ‘encouraged’ to ensure they will not pollute the area they will develop in, and the Albanian government need to ensure they have laws able to control such activity.
Many years ago under communism, the Elbasan area was ‘poisoned’ by pollution from the steel plant. It took years to ‘clean up’ the land.