Alstom has been awarded a contract worth around €100m by the Norwegian company Statkraft to supply 6 Francis turbine-generator units and auxiliaries to its subsidiary in Albania, Devoll Hydropower (DHP), a project company in charge of the construction of new hydropower plants on the Devoll river, in southern Albania. The scope of the contract, which has been booked in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2013/2014, also includes two high voltage substations of 220 kV and 110 kV in addition to hydraulic steelworks such as gates, penstock, stoplogs and trash-racks.
The Devoll hydropower project is currently the first large scale public-private-partnership investment in the country and one of the largest hydropower investments in the Balkans. With a total capacity of 243 MW, the Devoll river project will generate approximately 700 GWh/year and increase the current electricity production in Albania by approximately 17%. It will supply more than 300,000 Albanian households. The Devoll hydropower project will consist of two plants, Banjë and Moglice, which are expected to be commissioned between 2016 and 2018-2019. Statkraft is the sole developer of the project, after having purchased the 50% stake of its partner EVN (Austria) in March 2013.