The Power Recovery Project in Albania aims to support power sector reforms in order to enhance the electricity supply reliability and the financial viability of the sector.
The power sector recovery reform efforts include diversifying generation sources, reducing distribution losses and enhancing collection, and improving the power market model in compliance with the European Union (EU) directives.
The country will implement a comprehensive Sector Recovery Plan to address the pressing sector issues, especially its fiscal viability.
The World Bank Albania country manager Tahseen Sayed said: "The Power Recovery Project supports the implementation of government reforms, and will help to increase investment; improve management and performance, especially in distribution; and reduce inter-company arrears.
"The project will support the sector recovery plan to address longstanding technical and financial issues."
The project includes components such as providing short-term complementary power import support; upgrading distribution infrastructure; upgrading the transmission meter/data center; and supporting power sector reforms and project implementation.
World Bank energy and project team leader senior specialist Salvador Rivera said: "The key project entities are the Distribution Company, OShEE, which will benefit from the reduction of losses and improved billing and collection rates; KESh, Albania’s main generation company, which will benefit from improved financial sustainability; and the Transmission System Operator, OST, which will benefit from the installation of an enhanced metering data center to facilitate the market restructuring."
"The project is a first, necessary step to support sector reforms, leading to improved quality of service and reliability."
