Albanian power utility KESH announced that, for the first time in the last six years, Albania annual electricity production exceeded domestic needs, which means that surplus electricity was exported to neighboring countries.
The statement from KESH said that a total of 7.3 billion kWh of electricity was produced in Albania in 2016, which is the highest annual production since 2010. This level of production completely met the domestic electricity demand, thus about 700 million kWh was exported. The positive energy balance is mostly the result of favorable hydrology (since Albania produces almost 100 % of its electricity at hydropower plants), but also due to reduced level of electricity theft.
Private-owned hydropower plants achieved record high production of about 2.2 billion kWh of electricity in 2016, which represents some 30 % of total domestic production, while savings of some 1.1 billion kWh were made due to reduced level of distribution losses, especially reduced level of electricity theft.
