TIRANA, March 7 /ATA/ – The prolonged drought mainly in the first half of 2017 affected electricity output in Albania’s hydro power plants (HPPs). Albania’s electricity generation fell by around 36.6% year-on-year to 4525 GWh in 2017, the National Institute of Statistics, INSTAT, said on Wednesday.
With the country being highly dependent on HPPs production and the electricity generation falling, the authorities improved measures to cut losses in the power distribution network that were reduced by 5.5% in 2017.
INSTAT said on its latest report on balance of electric power that Albania generated 4525 GWh of electricity in 2017, down from 7.136 GWh of electricity produced a year earlier, registering a decline of 36.6%.
According to INSTAT, production at public hydropower plants and by privately-held power plants and plants operated under concession fell respectively by 42.7% and 21.3% during the past year.
The country was forced to import electricity to make up for the loss of domestic output caused by drought. Net electricity imports surged by 86.3%, whereas net exports fell by 73.9% compared to 2016.
Imports of electricity, including exchanges, increased to 3403 GWh in 2017 from 1827 GWh in 2016.
Exports of electricity, including exchanges, fell to 488 GWh in 2017 from 1.869 GWh a year ago.
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