Albania's H1 Power Output Rises 50%

September 15 (SeeNews) - Albania generated 2,993 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity in the first half of 2009, up by 50% from a year earlier, the country’s statistics office INSTAT said on Tuesday.

Albania imported 1,869 GWh over the six-month period, 26% up from a year earlier, INSTAT said in a half-year energy report.

The Balkan country relies almost entirely on its hydro power resources to meet domestic energy demand. Electricity production dropped by 45% to 2,946 GWh in 2007 due to a severe drought, dragging the country into one of its worst energy crises, with blackouts of up to 20-1/2 hours, as the dry spell depleted water reserves. In 2009, thanks to abundant snow- and rainfall, Albania made its first ever electricity exports, selling a total of 797 GWh of electricity abroad through May, mainly to Greece.

Despite the intense investment in the upgrading of the existing transmission and distribution network, losses during transmission and distributing the energy remain high at 42% of the total generated electivity and at 27% of the total used energy.

Albania's total power consumption rose to 4,531 GWh through June, 30% up on the year. Households accounted for some 1,200 GWh of the total intake, almost unchanged from last year.

The country's power consumption rose by 12.4% to 6,608 GWh in 2008. Albania produced 3,849 GWh of energy and imported 2,475 GWh last year.