Vau i Dejes HPP

Chinese-Spanish Tie-up to Build Floating PV Plant

A consortium comprising China's solar and wind power equipment maker Sungrow and Spain's engineering company Gamma Solutions won a Euro 13.9 million (Dollar 14.5 million) tender to design, build, and operate a 12.9 MW floating photovoltaic (PV) plant in Albania, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said.

The floating PV plant will be built on the Vau i Dejes lake, close to the namesake hydropower plant, a notice published on the EBRD's e-procurement portal ECEPP showed on Tuesday.

The tender was carried out by Solar Energy of Albania (SENA), owned by Albanian state-owned power utility Korporata Elektroenergjitike Shqiptare (KESH).

The parties signed the contract for the works on the power plant in October 2024, according to the EBRD notice.

Financing for the project is led by the EBRD through a Euro 7.48 million loan, whereas the Albanian government is contributing an estimated Euro 1.9 million. The Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF), the EU’s regional arm, provided Albania with a grant of Euro 2.6 million for the project, it said in an earlier statement.

KESH, as a public generation company, has been engaged in the diversification of the production portfolio for several years, looking at the solar one with interest. Specifically, from 2022, a plant on the Zadeja dam in the Drin Cascade is in production, while there are also a number of other projects that are in different stages.