US gas company, Excelerate Energy Inc plans to use Albania as a way to deliver natural gas and natural gas products to the rest of Europe, according to its CEO Steven Kobos.
The company will provide floating power plants to Albania, allowing it to generate electricity and boost its energy production that is currently reliant on non-sustainable hydropower. In addition, the company is working with Exxon Mobil Corp to construct a LNG-to-power project in Vlora.
Kobos said he hopes to use the Vlora LNG project to expand into other countries in the region.
“It’s a good power project for Albania,” Excelerate Chief Executive Officer Steven Kobos said about the floating plants deal according to Bloomberg. “Obviously we hope it will lead to the opportunity to deliver natural gas and sell natural gas into Europe from that access.”
Albania is currently reliant on hydropower and the import of fossil fuel power. Other countries in the region are reliant predominantly on coal. There has been a call from the environmentally conscious to push towards wind and solar, rather than using fossil gas as an alternative, or transition energy.
Meanwhile, Europe is trying to diversify its natural gas sources to reduce reliance on Russia. It has also moved to ban Russian coal and a ban on Russian oil could be included in the sixth sanctions package.
Albania signed an agreement with ExxonMobil and Excelerate Energy to turn the Vlora thermal power plant into a terminal for liquified natural gas in March 2021.
At the time, Energy Minister Belinda Balluku stressed the need for Albania and the Balkan region to diversify and enhance energy supplies.
“We are confident that LNG can be the key to achieving these strategic objectives and to finally provide a solution to the complex Vlora TPP project by choosing the best partners, equipped to deliver a project of such magnitude,” she added.
The representative of the American company said that “the project should bring transformation in Albania, but also in the region”.
“As Albania looks to improve energy security and resiliency, we are confident that an LNG solution would provide reliability to the country’s power grid while complementing intermittent renewables and alternative resources,” stated Kobos back then.
Then in early 2022, Albanian Power Corporation (KESH), which operates the country’s main hydropower plants, announced the call for expression of interest for the technical and economic opportunities for leasing a thermal power generation asset that can be easily integrated into the country’s transmission grid.
The call states that the entity wants to lease the facility for a period of one to three years. The third party should also provide maintenance and operation services for the duration of the contract and in line with the requirements of KESH. Requirements include operating on light and heavy fuel oil.
It must also be “fit to be deployed” near Vlora’s existing thermal power plant so it can easily use the existing interconnection infrastructure.
The Narta Power Plant sits in Vlora on one of the region’s most pristine beaches. Since its construction and completion in 2005, it has not generated a single watt of power and has been plagued by issues with its cooling system.
