Devoll River Hydro power plants

Active

On December 19, 2008 the Government of Albania signed an agreement with the 50-50 Austrian-Norwegian joint venture consisting of the Austrian regional power producer and distributor EVN AG and the Norwegian renewable energy company Statkraft AS to build and operate three Albanian power plants on the Devoli River in the south of Albania. EVN was awarded a 35-year build-operate-transfer concession for the projects by the Albanian government in January 2008 after winning an international tender for the rights to exploit the river's hydropower resources and its tributaries. Albania opened a tender for granting a BOT concession in July, 2007. Other bidders included the Turkish steel group Kurum Holding in a consortium with Iceland-based electricity company Landsvirkjun. EVN and Statkraft, each would have a 50% stake in Devoll Hydropower Holding, a special-purpose vehicle established to carry out the concession to build, operate, and transfer the HPPs. The HPPs on the Devoll River would be constructed over a period of eight years at a cost estimated at 950 million euro (US$1.37 billion) and would have a total generating capacity of 340MW. The three HPPs include completion of construction of a partially built facility in Banja, as well as new plants at Lozhane-Grabove and Skanderbegas. At that time, the hydropower concession for the Devoll River was the second to be signed by Albania with an international partner and the second for EVN. In September 2008, the Austrian utility in partnership with compatriots Verbund signed a 35-year concession agreement with Albania's Minister of Economy, Trade and Energy to build and operate the 48-MW Ashta hydropower plant on the Drin River in northern Albania. In December 2012, the project received an infrastructure permit for the construction of three plants from Albania's National Zoning Council, for the $1.06 billion 319MW project. Mott MacDonald (UK) and Coyne et Bellier (FR) were appointed as engineering consultants. The Corporate Wire, Albanian Zoning Authority Issues Permit for Devoll Hydro Project, 21 December 2012.