In the first quarter of this year, Albanian state-owned Power Corporation KESH organized several dozen tenders for the sale of electricity, generating revenue of about 27 million euros.
These are tenders with short delivery periods, ranging from two to seven days. A total of 662 GWh was sold on the free market. At the same time, at the request of the electricity distribution system operator OSHEE, KESH continued to supply end consumers in Albania. OSHEE, which spent over 120 million euros last year for the purchase of electricity to cover consumption, did not hold any tenders in recent months to buy electricity on the open market.
Moreover, the favorable hydrological situation has enabled OSHEE to sell the surplus electricity it receives from privileged producers, i.e. hydropower plants with an installed capacity of up to 15 MW. It is expected that 2021 will be more favorable in terms of electricity production, thanks not only to the good hydrological situation, but also to the commissioning of 20 new power plants in 2020.
The Albanian Energy Regulatory Agency (ERE) reports that last year was one of the most problematic in terms of hydrology. This significantly limited electricity production, which amounted to 5,313 GWh and imports were one of the largest in the previous ten years. The produced amount of electricity was lower than the average for the period 2009 – 2020 by about 10 % or 569 GWh. This is due to the fact that water inflows into accumulations were below the multi-year average, which also applies to the accumulation of the country’s largest hydropower plant Fierza, operated by KESH. The bad hydrological year resulted in significant imports of electricity, in order to cover the domestic demand. Thus, net imports in 2020 amounted to 2,275 GWh, which is 31 % of total consumption.
