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| Power station in Albania |
Albania produced 8.9 million MWh of energy last year.
This amount is 6.5 percent higher than the total consumption, which fluctuated at just over 8.4 million MWh. In 2021, when production exceeded consumption, the money spent on free-market purchases was about 225 million euros, a record figure ever spent on energy purchases.
Despite the difficult year, the same official data show that from the interconnection lines from our country has come to an amount of 2.8 million MWh of energy. In total production is estimated to have been exported about 1/3 of this amount or 31.2 percent, mainly in the first half of the year when there was heavy rainfall, according to Monitor.
Such a picture has in many cases raised questions about how the situation is managed but the government has argued that the main impact of financial exposure for energy purchases during 2021 has come as a result of developments in foreign markets and stratospheric price pressures on stock exchanges in the second half of the year.
Albania as a net importer of energy usually bases its supply in difficult times on foreign markets, but this year due to the increase in energy demand under the effect of the post-pandemic, the entry into force of green certificates for some producers in Europe, the lowest historical production in several decades by windmills, prices in these markets reached extraordinary levels where the competition was to provide energy, regardless of cost.
Production, the weight of parties
Specifically, the Albanian Electricity Corporation itself has produced 5.3 million MWh. While it has passed to the Universal Service Provider (part of OSHEE) 3.9 million MWh or about 47 percent of consumption.
About 26 percent of the domestic production that is injected in the domestic market has come from priority producers of energy which are hydropower plants up to 15 MW to which the Free Market Supplier buys energy at a price that is set each year according to the methodology in basic Hungarian stock. Also, a minimum amount of energy of 40 thousand MWh is bought by FTL from photovoltaics at a price of 76 euros MWh.
What has made the difference in this whole panorama has been the purchase from the free market which from September to December had extremely high prices over 350 euros MWh. Since October, when the government issued the decision to declare a supply emergency, independent producers including producers with a capacity of over 15 MWh such as Devoll Hydropower, Ayen Enerji and Kurumi have sold energy in the country at stock exchange prices. This happened in conditions when it was no longer a matter of price but security of supply after the alarm was raised for lack of availability.