Prime Minister Edi Rama’s remarks at the virtual meeting marking the launch of Kosovo’s independent operations as Regulatory Zone as part of Albania-Kosovo Regulatory Bloc and the start of power transmission through the 400 kV interconnection transmission line between the two countries:
We have finally succeeded and the day has come, although if we are to look back and review the history of this process, we would find out it has taken a lot of time. It was in February 2010, or 10 years ago, when the government of Albania adopted a loan for construction of the Albania-Kosovo power transmission line and, as the previous prime minister had vowed, the project was to complete within two years, I quote: “One of the largest projects in the history of our two countries with the potential to regulate the energy market between the two countries and the region.”
Leaving out this part of the speech, about which I should agree it is really one of the biggest projects in the history of our two countries, I would like to remind you all that the work on the project never started. And because of irrationality – needless to dwell upon this issue – not only not only did nothing start, but our power system kept degrading to the point that it became a heavy weighting burden on the shoulders of the Albanian state, which the greatest odds of going bankrupt. And it was until 2014m when the new administration, our government started implementing this major project and it concluded precisely in two years, in 2016.
So, four years have passed since full completion of the project. I recall that I attended a ceremony along with my friend Isa Mustafa, where we announced the project completion and the transmission line didn’t become operational for a reason that should be revealed today as it may also serve those who blindly oppose our continued effort to integrate the approach to the future of the entire region. The reason why the line didn’t become operational was the veto imposed by Serbia. The transmission line remained hostage to a formality due to the lack of political will. For four consecutive year, Kosovo was denied a power transmission code by the European Network of Transmission System Operators, because the Serbian side refused to recognize Kosovo’s network independence provided that the country remained dependent on Serbia again.
This is the Regional Schengen.
I repeat, this is the Regional Schengen.
This is the way to tackle incredibly important issues, which remain hostage to big, strong words, huge disputes and delusion of grandeur that has usually prevented Albanians from seeing beyond their nose. And it was precisely by paving the way for a regional interaction and by aligning the approach to delivering on this region’s future also through the help of the European Union and the United States that we succeeded in lifting that veto and get back exactly what we have all come together for today, the opening and making this project operational, which as my predecessor said, is one of the biggest projects in the history of the two countries, – I prefer to say our two states, because we are 1 country in two states.
The end of this story marked through the press of a button gives life today to a common integrated pan-Albanian power space. It is an independent space in a definitely broader regional market, representing at the same time a vital and fundamental link in a much larger and wider system, namely the pan-European energy transmission system. Making the 400kV transmission line operational will have an incredibly positive impact on the security of the Albanian power system operation and, at the same time, it will significantly increase the capacity of the interconnection network of the Transmission System Operator.
On this occasion, let me bring quote an excerpt from the book by a well-known historian, Bernd Fischer, about the Second World War in Albania, which tells in detail how market interests had united Albania and Kosovo into a single space under the then Italian sovereignty. It was time when Albania and Kosovo exchanged mutually. Kosovo used to meet Albania’s needs for agricultural produce, whereas Albania met Kosovo’s demand for dairy products. Kosovo meet Albania’s demand for coal, while Albania addressed Kosovo’s needs for chromium, iron and so on and so forth.
Precisely the same thing happens today.
Around 97% of Albania’s domestically generated electricity is produced from the hydropower plants, whereas generates 97% of its electricity from its thermal power plants.
It would suffice to take a look at the two sides of the same coin to figure out the strategic importance of this project that has become a reality today, the network’s integration and 24-hour interaction between Albania’s Transmission System Operator and Kosovo’s power transmission system operator KOSTT. This actually mean that we are today reciprocally stronger in terms of capacities, while for Albania, given the country’s high level of the clean energy production, which is being used in Europe to balance the carbon emission quota, this power line and the energy investments the Energy Minister already mentioned, including the Skavica hydropower plant, the two major photovoltaic parks already underway, the all provide the opportunity for Albania to export electricity.
It is widely known the fact that the Kosovo’s power system incurs a particularly high operational cost. The network exclusively depends on the thermal power plants and, and the same as in Albania, where there is no flexibility because the country is almost totally dependent on hydropower for electricity generation, in Kosovo there is no flexibility because it is dependent on thermal sources for electricity production.
The lack in the system’s flexibility doesn’t provide for rationalization to the immediate change of demand. And indeed, it is now time when we can together start to rationalize exactly our strength vis-à-vis the immediate change of demand, because of the weather, on one hand, and, on the other hand, of the fact that the whole supply depends on one source alone.
In Albania, thanks to this line, we are for the first time to better plan management of the seasonal electricity surplus or shortage, which, as we all know, largely depend on the weather conditions and different from the time described by Bernd Fischer and different from any other era of our common history, this is a time when we come to this conclusion as an expression of the sovereign will of the two sovereign governments in the two sovereign states. This represents an extraordinary potential as a clear example for the rascals on both sides of the border, for all grandiose delusional people on both sides of the border, who raise the patriotic outcry to hinder economic projects, to realize what our approach for the future means and what the Regional Schengen essentially means.
Regional Schengen doesn’t imply surrendering any independence or sovereignty, but it further strengthens independence and sovereignty.
Exactly this project, precisely historical, as my predecessor underlined, is an embodiment of making best use of the capacities of sovereignty and independence of both states to interact with one another, when they advance farsighted policy and when they don’t allow politics to degrade into national-revolutionary statuses that bring no solution, but, quite the contrary, bring about only closure, isolation and then, as a result, poverty.
Returning to the high voltage line, the TSO and KOSTT will introduce application of a previously unknown concept. A new concept of operation of the Albanian power system and combined with the power exchange, as the Director mentioned, the interconnection lays the foundations of a unified energy sector development, which will gradually provide great benefits for both countries and as a result , ultimately, for the Albanian population on both sides of the border.
Creation of Albania-Kosovo Regulatory Bloc is the best technical solution to the need for stock of each separate control area.
On the other hand, the regulatory bloc also provides another great and significant benefit in terms of the dimension of joint electricity stocks, ensuring a greater savings potential for the total reserves needed for common control in the so-called Albania-Kosovo Bloc.
Well, increasing the security of the power system, optimizing the use of reserves, accelerating the process of merging electricity markets throughout the region, reducing losses in the transmission system, creating opportunities for balanced energy exchange through operators are great accomplishments thanks to this extraordinary step we take together. I fully with the Minister when she said that what the TSO and KOSTT have done in this period in order to get the button pressed and start power transmission since last midnight, is a meaningful example for all those who want to understand , in all areas, is a milestone on the path of successful interaction in view of people’s daily lives and not in view of inflammatory statuses on social networks and inflammatory statements at meetings both in Pristina and Tirana, which have not brought any good to the Albanians in Kosovo, nor the Albanians in Albania, but they have just added extra obstacles we must overcome together.
Thanking with much gratitude, with much respect all those who have contributed to the making the transmission line operational, be them managers or employees here, or managers and employees in Kosovo, I remain very confident that the common Albanian space thanks to this line of power system, will be a pillar in the history of the creation of the regional market, which will definitely be part of the European network in the future.
And at this point, I want to conclude by reiterating, what we are witnessing today is not the end, but just the continuation of a journey, because the end is the extension and full integration in the European market that passes through the regional market.
Thank you very much and once again! All the best to the friends watching us now on TV in Pristina and I wish you all health, especially in this so challenging time for health, for yourself, family, relatives, friends and their loved ones.
Thank you!
