AlbanianEconomy.comYour News from Albania
Albania Govt. Approves €950 M Hydro Deal
Tirana | 22 January 2009 | Albania’s government approved on Wednesday a €950 million deal with Austrian utility EVN and the Norwegian renewable energy group Statkraft to build three hydro-electric power plants in Albania.
The contract would need to be ratified by parliament to become effective.
The three plants on the river Devoll, which flows into the Adriatic south of the capital Tirana, would produce a combined 340 megawatts of power and generate 1,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity annually.
Albania’s power network fell into disrepair in the 1980s under the former communist regime and in the first years of transition to democracy in the early 1990s. Increased demands as the economy grew rapidly in the last 15 years mean frequent and lasting blackouts and a reliance on petrol generators in homes and businesses across the country.
Ragnvald Naero, Executive Vice President of Statkraft, said in a statement that the project would increase hydro power production in Albania by 20 percent, as well as create jobs and stimulate economic development.
The planned project in Devoll is the first concrete result of an agreement signed by the government of Lower Austria, the Republic of Albania and EVN in early 2007.
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 6.0 percent annually in recent years.
According to the Ministry of Economy the planned hydro power plant projects in southern Albania will increase the country’s gross domestic product by two percentage points.
“Our economy will benefit with a two percent GDP rise from the Devolli hydro power plant projects, while the investment will open 7500 new jobs, “said Minster Genc Ruli in late December. “This project is the solution for our long-running electricity crisis.”
He added the plants will be operational in between seven to ten years, and Albania would earn as much as one billion euro in tax and concessionary tariffs.
(Reporting by Besar Likmeta) Source: Balkaninsight
Other Articles
Leave a Reply
