The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has announced that it will extend a 9.1 million Euros loan to Albania’s state-owned power utility, Korporata Elektroenergjitike Shqiptare (KESH), for constructing a floating photovoltaic (PV) plant.
The loan, offered on a commercial basis, will finance the construction of the 12.9 MW floating solar farm, is set out to be one of the first of this size in Albania and Western Balkans aimed at contributing to the overall commercialization of KESH. The plant is foreseen to make KESH more resilient to climate-related risks regarding hydrology and seasonality.
The plant will be located on the surface of KESH’s water reservoir at Vau i Dejës hydropower plants and is aligned with Albania’s plants of developing its solar capacities for which it has successfully received two EBRD-backed auctions – the 140 MW Karavasta project and the 100 MW Spitalle project.
According to the EBRD’s Regional Head of Energy for the Western Balkan, Francesco Corbo, the project is remarkable because of its innovative technology, positive environmental impact and commercial logic. It also has the potential to be replicated in the broader Western Balkans region, which has many hydropower reservoirs.