[ALBSA-Info] In Albania's darkness, the generator is king

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

In Albania's darkness, the generator is king

By Benet Koleka
  
TIRANA, Jan 31 (Reuters) - They may not quite be music to the ears, but when 
power generators rev into action in the Albanian capital these days the sound 
is the sweetest melody. 

Generators --and candles-- have resurfaced with a vengeance in Tirana as 
power cuts of up to 20 hours a day throw Albania back into darkness and put 
its economic development in doubt. 

Having an espresso, watching your favourite soap, treating a tooth or even 
just taking a shower can be a serious challenge because of the crippling 
power shortage in the poor Balkan state. 

To add to those woes, Prime Minister Ilir Meta resigned on Tuesday after 
failing to resolve eternal political feuding that has often taken priority 
over solving practical problems. 

Despite its location across the Adriatic Sea from balmy Italy, Albania has 
sharp winters and fierce summers. Electricity is important for home comfort 
as well as industry and commerce. 

But last summer, prolonged drought bled dry the Drin river, which generates 
90 percent of Albania's power. The problem was compounded when it then froze 
in the worst frosts in 15 years. 

So, generators have become a much envied status symbol. 

"We banish the darkness," advertises one local supplier of generators doing 
brisk trade. Others are less sanguine. 

"Albania has entered the millennium with a mobile phone in one hand and a 
candle in the other," said political analyst Remzi Lani. 

POTEMKIN VILLAGE 

For an insight into Albania's predicament, picture the visit of President 
Rexhep Meidani to provincial Gjirokaster last year. 

No sooner had his helicopter risen into the air to take him home than the 
illuminated town was plunged into darkness. 

"This is just like Potemkin's village," said an astonished American 
journalist who witnessed the power-saving regimen. 

Just as Russia's statesman Grigori Alexandrovich Potemkin erected 
two-dimensional facades to impress Empress Catherine the Great, Tirana's neon 
glitter goes no further than its main boulevards. 

In the suburbs and the countryside, darkness reigns. 

Cynics say the only reason Albania recently enjoyed three days of 
uninterrupted power was so that politicians could appear on television to 
accuse each other of exploiting the crisis. 

NO WATER, NO POWER 

Water levels in the Drin, whose three hydroelectric plants supply 90 percent 
of the national grid, are perilously close to the mandatory shut-down limit 
to protect the turbines. 

Its once ample tributaries are lost in the winter snows. 

So, for all of his Harvard-taught economic skills, Energy Minister Dritan 
Prifti is reduced to praying for a thaw. 

"If the temperature rises, the snow will melt and the situation will change 
100 percent in 48 hours," he said optimistically. 

Albania's national grid can produce only eight million kilowatts of power 
(kWh), just a third of its installed capacity, forcing the country to match 
that with daily imports of six to eight million kWh. 

That is not enough; winter demand hits 22 million kWh a day. 

Before his departure, Meta had asked neighbouring Macedonia to let more water 
flow from the Black Drin river into Albania's river system, and is seeking 
more Balkan power imports. 

Bulgaria has put a power station to work especially for Albania, providing 
2.4 million kWh a day and Greece is temporarily exporting 2.5 million kWh. 

To relieve the worst problem areas, Prifti is considering buying mobile 
generators with a capacity up to 20 megawatts (MW). 

LONG SUFFERING 

Albania's power problem is a long-running sore. 

The decade-long crisis has prompted some deep thinking about the future to 
stop the power utility Korporata Energjitike Shqiptare (KESH) becoming the 
black sheep of state firms, able only to ask for more and more money, always 
straining the budget. 

But increases in power prices for domestic consumers do not seem to have 
prompted any immediate fall in demand, and liquid gas, which is also 
expensive, is not a favoured substitute. 

Meta said the World Bank had promised to build a power station with installed 
capacity of 300 MW. Albania would need two like that to meet its needs. 

The World Bank, warning of a bar to foreign investment, says the only 
long-term solution is to "manage demand more aggressively." 

BLEAK ECONOMIC FUTURE, PROTESTS 

Small businesses were the worst hit by power shortages but big industrial 
consumers, which the KESH power utility tries to keep supplied, were also 
forced to shut down. 

The government recently urged them not to work for 10 days. 

"All our investment is going to fail if this situation persists," said Edurt 
Belegu, a representative of the Italian chrome-processing company Darfo. 

Darfo said it had stopped work altogether after operating for a year at 80 
percent capacity because of the shortages. A Turkish steelmaker has also been 
badly hit. 

"The power crisis is assuming the dimensions of an economic crisis," says 
central bank governor Shkelqim Cani. 

Cani failed to reach the low end of his coveted two to four percent inflation 
target last year because of higher spending provoked by the shortages. 
Inflation was at 3.5 percent in 2001. 

Former Finance Minister Genc Ruli has predicted a fall in the level of 
investment, higher inflation and less revenue for the budget. Construction 
and services would shrink, he said. 

The blackouts have also sparked protests, with Albanians taking to the 
streets to demand more power, more water and jobs. 

The low-watt start to 2002 has also dimmed the country's already gloomy 
prospects of meeting the economic requirements for closer integration with 
the European Union any time soon. 

As the conservative opposition leader and former president, Sali Berisha, 
says: "Europe won't welcome us with a candle in hand."