Truth about the HPP sale

“If we refer to the hydropower plant Kodova 1 and Kodova 2, it was privatized for 56.08 million EUR, with a 59 MWh of installed power. The average privatization price for MWh is 943.000 EUR”, Dervishaj declared on January 16th.

The Deputy Minister is actually referring to the Kovada Hydropower Plant, and he is pronouncing it wrong. This hydropower plant was part of a list with 50 HPPs that the Turkish government privatized in 2010. The same list has HPPs that were sold for 52.7 million USD for installed MW, as shown by the prestigious “The Economist”.

According to the Turkish privatization authority, the total installed power of 50 HPPs was 134 MW and the average price was 2.8 million EURMW. It is twice bigger than the price the Albanian government is selling the four hydropower plants to the Turkish Company, Kurum, which coincidentally comes from Turkey.  If you reduce the 23 million loans that the government took for their rehabilitation, the difference is 2.4 times bigger.

But these are not the only arguments rejecting Ministry’s claims. Comparing the situation only with the total value is incomplete, if you don’t take in consideration the fees through which private HPPs will sell energy to the government. All governments in general apply encouraging policies for renewable energy, buying it with preferential costs. These prices change from one country to another. The Turkish government buys energy from private HPPs for 0.055 EUR per KW, or 7.7 ALLKW. The Albanian government pays private companies 18% more, after it buys energy with 9.2 ALLKW. “Kurum” bought the hydropower plants in Albania twice cheaper than in its own country, and they have the guarantee to sell it with a 18% higher price than in Turkey. The Deputy Minister’s comparisons, more than justifications for the government, prove the contrary. The privatization of four HPPs was a good business for the private operator, but a loss for the Albanian citizens.

Top Channel