Work kicked off Friday for construction of a 140 MW photovoltaic park, spanning 198 hectares in Karavasta, western Albania, the largest solar power plant in Western Balkans being built by French renewable company Voltalia, an international player in the renewable energy sector.

The project represents a milestone achievement in Albania’s objective to diversify its energy generation sources, which is essential to the energy security.

In his remarks at the groundbreaking ceremony, Prime Minister Edi Rama said that his government won’t give up on its Albania 2030 vision to transform the country into completely energy independent and an energy net exporter.

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I am very happy to be here today after a long preparatory work, because the process is as such, to enter the final construction phase of the largest solar power park in the Balkan region. I am very glad that coincidentally  I met the president of France in Madrid a day ago and we talked about Voltalia’s involvement in Albania, we talked about today’s ceremony, and about Voltalia’s next investment in construction of another photovoltaic park in the area of Spitalle, already under a preparatory stage.

I am also glad that the start of the construction work will also provide a sigh of relief for the Socialist MP Erion Braçe regarding implementation of this important energy project. Lawmaker Erion Veliaj deserves all the respect and gratitude for his perseverance and incredible contribution he has provided together with local government authorities here to deliver on this project. In the meantime, although she has just done her job, the Minister of Infrastructure and Energy Belinda Balluku deserves all the praise too, as the process has been really challenging, yet it is a beautiful success story, starting with its price. An imaginable electricity price in terms of the economic benefits for the Albanian state, offered by Voltalia for 25 euro per MWh, but a price beyond any imagination amid today’s situation with the circumstances having changed radically. That’s why I would like to respectfully tell the company executives we greatly appreciate their correctness, seriousness and readiness to continue despite such a challenging situation, where in fact, even the project itself was threatened by the incredible change in the conjuncture.

It is exactly this current situation I would like to comment briefly, taking into account the fact that as the energy price is increasingly becoming a matter for concern in Europe and throughout the world, while the energy price hike projections are becoming increasingly frightening, Albania remains the only country that hasn’t changed and will not change the electricity price for the households and small businesses, a decision that keeps Albania’s inflation rate – the main issue encountering the governments all over the world now – significantly lower compared to other countries in the region.

However, on the other hand, let’s not forget, we are coping with this situation by continuing to maintain the lowest tax system for the majority of the population. Only big businesses pay highest or relatively higher tax rates in Albania, while the rest pay lowest rates in the region, let alone in Europe. Not only that, but we are about to take yet another step to continue lowering personal income taxes  by bringing the level of the untaxed salary to 500,000 lek.

On the other hand, we do not give up our vision of “Albania 2030”, to transform this country into a completely energy independent country and into a net energy exporter. Albania is not an energy- independent country yet, because even when the rains reach their highest intensity, even when we have the rainiest possible year, we still fail to meet 100% the domestic demand for electricity and therefore we have to import electricity.

Once again, I would like to thank company Voltalia for its seriousness, correctness and readiness.

Thank you!