First electricity produced in Albania

Late in the evening of August 31, the 7.2 MW Eco Flow Unit at Banja Hydropower Plant in Albania was successfully synchronized with the national grid for the first time.

This marks the first electricity delivered to the Albanian grid from Statkraft’s Devoll Hydropower project. This achievement followed intense preparations over the last weeks, and is considered a major milestone preparing for the commissioning and testing process of the plant. Additional commissioning activities are ongoing and trial operation is anticipated to start during the weekend.

In addition to the small eco-flow turbine, Banja hydropower plant has two unit of 33 MW each.

As part of the same project, Statkraft is constructing the 184 MW Mogliche hydropower plant, expected to come into operations in 2018.

Statkraft started construction of the Devoll project in , and when everything is finalised, the two power plants will produce about 700 GWh annually, increasing Albania’s electricity generation by 17 %.

The electricity produced will be handled by the market teams in Tirana and Düsseldorf.