Albania to Install its First Floating Solar Photovoltaic Power Plants
/16th July 2019, RENEWABLE MARKET WATCHTM/ Albanian local power utility Korporata Elektroenergjetike Shqiptare (KESH) has submitted in December 2018 a proposal to the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure for the construction of a 12.9 MW floating PV plant. According to the document, the facility will be installed at the water reservoir of the Drin River near Vau i Dejës, a town in the Shkodër County, northwestern Albania, where KESH is operating the 260 MW Vau i Dejës Hydroelectric Power Station. The plant will sell power to the electricity spot market, the document says.
Floating solar technologies are creating major new opportunities to scale up solar energy worldwide, particularly in countries with high population density and competing uses for available land. The use of floating solar – deployment of photovoltaic panels on the surface of bodies of water – has grown more than a hundred-fold in less than four years, from a worldwide installed capacity of 10 megawatts at the end of 2014 to 1.1 gigawatts by September 2018, according to the first market report on floating solar, produced by the World Bank Group and the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS).
Historically, most electricity generated in Albania has been produced by hydropower (almost 95 %), although increased demand has led to regular power shortages. The bad news is that climate change will likely harm hydropower, reducing average electricity output from Albania’s hydropower plants by up to 15 %. This is one reason why the Government needs to diversify its energy supply and promote other renewable energy forms – such as solar energy and biomass energy. Over 25 % of Albania's energy is imported, and the Government is working to reduce dependence on energy imports.
Statkraft plans its first floating solar plant in Albania was announced in January 2019. Norway’s state-owned hydropower and wind company intends to deploy a 2 MW floating installation at its 72 MW hydropower plant in Albania’s Elbasan district. The renewable energy law passed in Albania in July 2013 and the Law No.7 for Promotion of the Use of Energy from Renewable Energy Sources passed in November 2017 pay specific attention to requirements for promoting solar energy in the country. The new law covers solar energy and will help promote the use of technologies and innovations for generating electricity from renewable energy sources in general.
Due to its climate, the high intensity of solar radiation, and its relatively long duration, Albania has favourable solar energy development conditions. Albania’s solar radiation is calculated to more than 1,500 kWh/m2/yr. The average daily solar radiation is about 4.1kWh/m2, reaching more than 4.6kWh/m2 in the south-western part of the country. The country has about 2,400 hours duration of sunshine per year, 2,500 hours in the western part and a record of about 2,850 hours in certain locations.
In Albania, solar power is widely available, but the solar photovoltaic market in the country is not yet developed. However, the situation shall start to change since 2019 in favour of solar photovoltaic power.
The more information and answers to your questions about the solar photovoltaic market in Albania you may read here: Western Balkans Renewable Energy Market Reports 2019÷2028
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