Roli i termocentraleve në prodhimin e energjisë elektrike në Shqipëri
The role of thermal power plants in the production of electricity in Albania

Summary/Abstract: The construction of thermal power plant for electricity production in Albania dates on 1951 where the first one was built in Tirana; which operated with 2.9 MW of installed capacity. In the early 90’s; Albania counted seven thermal power plants with an installed capacity of 194 MW which used to operate with raw materials such as coal; heavy oil ; gas or solar . In the first steps of the country electrification; the only kind of electric power generation was the thermo one. In the early 90’s; while the electricity consumption increased immediately; the electric power generation by power plants fell drastically. The power plants began to reduce production and the first one to stop operation in 1991 was the Power Plant of Vlora. In 2007; the last one to stop operation was the power plant of Fier; which used to generate electricity at high level costs; due to over depreciated conditions. On of the main reasons why those power plants stopped production is due to their extreme depreciation and outdated TEChnology; which lead to high production costs and environmental pollution. Despite the fact that the production costs exceed hydropower costs; power plants have served and might serve: • To secure a sustainable electricity supply and to enable the fulfillment of the country's demand for electricity; • To balance the supply overload; • To reduce the country's dependency on rainfall and hydropower production. • To allow a more efficient way of hydropower generation. • Etc. For a period of nearly 30 years no new power plant was built. On February 9th; 2007 the Italian Company “Maire Engineering” was contracted to construct a new power plant in Vlora with an installed capacity of 97 MW. This project is funded by the World Bank; the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development EBRD; the European Investment Bank and the Albanian Power Corporation with a value of 130 million Euros. It wasn’t the most favorable moment to invest through this project on thermo production; because the three last years oil and gas price was increased rapidly. Due to this situation; only one plant of 291 MW installed capacity was established; instead of 3 planned before. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the role of electricity production by thermal power stations in the country’s supply; the prospect of constructing new ones in the future by studying the production costs; the potential of our country and other internal and external factors; study the impact that would have the construction of TAP’s pipeline on thermo production costs; etc.

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