Albania to lease oil-fired power plant as a response to energy emergency

Albania’s power utility KESH intends to lease a thermal power plant with an installed capacity of 110-130 megawatts (MW) from a contractor that would deploy and connect it to the country’s electricity transmission grid.

In October, Albania declared an energy emergency because of a lack of electricity for domestic consumption caused by the energy crisis.

KESH has now issued the call for expression of interest to determine the technical and economic opportunities for taking on lease a thermal power generation asset that can be easily deployed and interconnected in the electricity transmission grid of Albania, according to the call.

KESH intends to lease facility over the period of one to three years

KESH expects to sign a deal with an international entity or group of entities to lease a thermal generating asset over one to three years. The contractor should also provide operation and maintenance services throughout the lease period and in line with the production requirements provided by KESH.

KESH listed nine technical requirements for the facility. Among them is the total installed capacity to be modular to provide production flexibility without impacting the generation efficiency of the plant and operation on light fuel oil and heavy fuel oil, the call reads.

TPP must be fit to be deployed near the Vlora thermal power plant

The power plants also must be in line with Albania’s legal requirements for environmental pollution and fit for deployment near the Vlora thermal power plant to use its interconnection infrastructure.

The main reasons for taking a TPP on lease are the generation of the total amount of electricity needed to fulfill the public supply obligation (PSO), providing a reserve generating capacity to guarantee the security of power supply, optimizing the production of electricity from both hydro and thermal resources to meet the PSO demand throughout the year, and achieving surplus revenues from commercial transactions in a deregulated market.