October 30 (SeeNews) - Albania is expected to pick by the end of the year the builder of a 30 million euro ($43.12 million) 400-kV power transmission line that will connect the energy-starved country to the high-voltage grids of neighbouring Greece and Montenegro, an official of Albanian state-owned grid operator OST said on Tuesday.
“The tender is underway and we expect that it will be over by the end of the year,” OST spokeswoman Migena Nelaj told SeeNews.
The new transmission line will link Albania's capital Tirana with the town of Elbasan located some 30 kilometers to the south. Elbasan is the end point for a 400-kV power line coming from Greece. A new 400-kV transmission line that would link Tirana and Montenegro’s capital Podgorica is under construction.
Tirana is connected with Elbasan and Podgorica by outdated 220-kV electricity transmission lines.
The construction of the Tirana-Elbasan transmission line will be financed by Italy, Nelaj said. Construction works are expected to be completed by 2009.
“So far many companies have shown interest in the construction of the line but it is too early to disclose their names before the tender is closed,” Nelaj said.
Albania also plans to build a 400-kV transmission line to the neighbouring U.N.-run Serbian province of Kosovo to diversify its electricity import routes. Kosovo plans to build by 2020 its third one coal-fired power plant with an installed capacity of 1,800 MW to 2,100 MW, worth an estimated 2.47 billion euro.
Albania’s electricity transmission infrastructure is in a poor condition, with losses of energy as high as 30%. Its electricity consumption increases by some 3.0% a year.
To meet domestic demand Albania needs to import during the second half of 2007 some 1.5 million MWh of electricity at an estimated cost of 108.6 million euro.
($=0.6943 euro)