Devoll Hydropower Sh. A. (DHP), Albanian company ultimately owned by the Norwegian company Statkraft AS, closed its invitation for expression of interest or prequalification for afforestation services as the deadline expired on June 22. The endeavour in Banje hydropower plant area, part of Devoll project, covers 255.3 hectares in five sections and includes maintenance of standard forest species, the company’s website said.

On June 8, Statkraft hired Norwegian SediCon for the delivery of dredging equipment to the Devoll hydropower plant in Albania, Dredging News Online (Sandandgravel.com) said. The Devoll River is 15 kilometers long and feeds a 390 million cubic metres reservoir. The river carries large sediment loads and the reservoir is expected to lose about 5 million cubic metres of its volume per year. In order to avoid storage loss, SediCon will provide a dredge for 400 cubic metres per hour to a depth of 60 metres, the report said.

Devoll project consists of two plants – Banja and Moglicë, to be built in the valley, with an installed capacity of 256 MW. The power plants will produce 729 GWh annually, increasing the Albanian electricity production by almost 17 per cent, Devoll’s website says.

Licenses for the construction and use of 30 power plants throughout Albania were cancelled by the country’s government for their „failure to meet obligations,“ after members of the European Parliament called on it to reconsider the plans.

The liberalisation and integration of the Albanian electricity market has been slower than expected, Devoll’s director of governmental affairs Agnar Aas had said in October, during a presentation at an industry event on Tirana, petrochemical market information provider ICIS reported.