Photo: AFD
Albania’s state-owned power company, KESH, and France’s development agency, Agence Française de Développement (AFD), have signed a memorandum of understanding on the Drin river cascade management and advanced energy storage planning.
Albania’s three biggest hydropower plants, with a combined capacity of 1.35 GW, are located on the Drin (Drim) river. The Drin cascade consists of the Fierza Hydropower Plant (500 MW), the Koman Hydropower Plant (600 MW), and the Vau i Dejës Hydropower Plant (250 MW).
KESH earlier initiated a pumped storage hydropower project.
As part of French Minister for Europe Benjamin Haddad’s visit to Tirana, Albania and France have solidified their action-oriented partnership in the energy sector, agreeing on AFD’s support to KESH in line with Albania’s priorities under its Green Agenda and EU accession roadmap, according to AFD.
With EUR 800,000 in financial support, AFD will mobilize French technical expertise in hydropower infrastructure modernization and digitalization and initiate a peer-to-peer exchange between KESH and Electricité de France (EDF), its French counterpart.
The technical assistance will help upgrade and digitalize KESH’s discharge management
Cooperation between KESH and French hydropower experts sets the stage for cutting-edge cooperation in energy storage and digital modeling, reads the press release.
AFD explained that the technical assistance would support the improvement and digitalization of KESH’s discharge management.
This will optimize electricity generation, mitigate flooding risks in the lower part of the Drin cascade, and develop storage capacity through the assessment and identification of the most suitable energy storage technologies for integration within the existing infrastructure, the agency added.
Haddad: the MoU demonstrates that Albania is a priority for France
Haddad underlined that the MoU demonstrates that Albania is a priority for France, but also the French government’s willingness to mobilize all its operators and financing tools to help the country in its European convergence and EU integration process, he noted.
According to Albania’s Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Energy, Ceno Klosi, France’s support in the energy sector has been steadily growing over the past five years. It already encompasses both structural reforms and flagship projects with different power utilities, he stressed.
The signing was attended by Erald Elezi, Administrator of KESH, Arnaud Dauphin, Director of AFD’s Western Balkans Regional Office, and Catherine Suard, France’s Ambassador to Albania.
In June 2023, Albania’s government signed a EUR 100 million loan agreement for energy sector reforms with AFD and German development bank KfW. Lately, AFD has been very active in the region. In November 2024, it signed agreements in Montenegro, and in August 2024 in Serbia.
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