'Karavasta Park corruption affair'/ DP: The company "Voltalia" was favored!

Democratic Party MP Eno Bozdo has raised accusations about the manner in which the contract for the Karavasta Photovoltaic Park was implemented, claiming that the Voltalia company was favored in violation of competition rules, the law on the electricity sector and competition principles.

In a statement, Bozdo referred to an investigative show called PLUG, which according to him has highlighted problems in the energy sector and the use of public funds.

According to him, it all started in 2020, when the competition for the construction and operation of the Photovoltaic Park in Karavasta was won by the company Voltalia, in a process in which other companies also participated.

"This apparent success would soon take the form of a fraud. Because this contract, and with it the conditions of the competition, were never respected. So, the conditions of the tender were not respected, but also the law on the electricity sector. This is because the Albanian Electric Power Corporation, the public company that is funded by our taxes and operates in the name of the public interest, with the blessing of the Ministry of Energy, on July 15, 2022, concluded another agreement with Voltalia, in open violation of the conditions where 5 companies had competed and where Voltalia was declared the winner," the reaction of the democratic deputy states.

He also claims that purchasing energy at regulated prices has brought high costs to KESH and that, according to his calculations, the potential damage over the entire contract period could reach around 100 million euros.

Bozdo's full statement:

Today's statement is inspired by the investigative show "Plug", which highlighted another very problematic affair in the energy sector, that of the economic favoritism of the Voltalia company, in violation of the competition conditions, of the law of the electricity sector, in direct violation of competition, equality and transparency of the spending of public money of Albanian taxpayers!

It all started five years ago. Everyone remembers the broadcast of the public competition for the construction and operation of the Photovoltaic Park in Karavasta. On May 27, 2020, this competition, in the presence of the Prime Minister, was won by the company Voltalia.

The initial conditions of the competition, and consequently the contract subsequently signed with the company Voltalia, required it to install a photovoltaic plant with a capacity of 140 MW. These conditions clearly stipulated that the state would purchase only 50% of the energy (70 MW) at the promised price of 24.89 Euro/MWh, while the other half had to be sold by the company on the free market. At that time, the government considered Voltalia's offer an extraordinary success, not only because the price of 24.89 Euro/MWh was a competitive price, but also because, according to the government itself, the average purchase price in the last 3 years on the free market had been 55 Euro/MWh, while the price offered by Voltalia was less than half the price offered by the market.

 

Up to this point, nothing special to note. But this apparent success would soon take the form of a fraud. Because this contract, and with it the conditions of the competition, were never respected.

So, the terms of the tender were not respected, but also the law on the electricity sector. This is because the Albanian Power Corporation, the public company funded by our taxes and operating in the name of the public interest, with the blessing of the Ministry of Energy, on July 15, 2022, entered into another agreement with Voltalia, in clear violation of the terms where 5 companies had competed and where Voltalia had been declared the winner.

Thus, KESH surprisingly offered to purchase at regulated prices the entire amount of energy produced by the photovoltaic park, i.e. 140 MW.

➢ First, KESH has seriously violated the law, because it is a legal obligation that, as defined textually:

“Suppliers charged with the obligation of universal supply service, as a public service obligation, purchase electricity according to transparent, non-discriminatory procedures, based on market prices, regardless of whether the purchase is made in the bilateral or organized market.”

➢ Secondly, because the legal obligation is that this energy is purchased by FTL (Free Market Supplier) and not KESH, because that is how the law defines it. But Maliqi thinks differently, because the law applies to everyone else, but not to Voltalia. In fact, out of 53 solar energy production companies in Albania today, Voltalia is the only company that is selected by KESH and its entire production is purchased, and at prices beyond market logic. Out of the other 52 companies, 42 of them have a contract with FTL, while the other 9 sell on the open market;

➢ Thirdly, because if we calculate that half of the energy production was purchased at a price of 24.89 euros/MWh, then it turns out that KESH purchased the other half of the production at approximately 106 euros/MWh, a figure that is very high compared to the market. If this difference were calculated over the entire duration of the concession, approximately 17 years, under normal market conditions, the amount lost by Albanian taxpayers is very large, in the order of 100 million euros. For the year 2024 alone, precisely because of this fact, KESH has suffered a loss of approximately 6.5 million euros!

So here we have the violation of the law with both feet and the day for the sun, the distortion of the market, the elimination of competition, through the awarding of a very favorable price to Voltalian without any competition or competitive procedure.

And KESH has clearly done all this to favor Voltalian and those behind it, and above all with our money. So government favors and government credits, but with Albanian money!

 

But there's more: in secret and without any new competition procedure — as required by law — the agreement, which was amended on July 15, 2022, added another 27 months of guaranteed purchase beyond the initial 15-year term, a gift worth millions of euros in favor of the concessionaire.

 

Finally, it should not be forgotten that in the auction for the construction and operation of the Karavasta photovoltaic park, which was won by Voltalia, 4 other companies also participated in the competition, two of which were German consortiums. These companies were disqualified because they submitted uncompetitive bids.

 

But in fact, if these companies had known that the competition rules would change shortly, they certainly could have won the competition. These companies today have every right to sue the Albanian government in Brussels for violating the competition rules in the competition and receive the compensation they are entitled to!

 

For the above reasons, a month ago I sent a request for information, according to the relevant law on the status of a deputy, to the Minister of Energy and the Public Company KESH. Although the legal obligation is to return a response within two weeks and a month has already passed, I still have no response on this very worrying issue.

 

Just as I have no answer for the contracts of Tigres 1 and 3, which KESH keeps in the safe, in violation of the law, because it calls them trade secrets. The Tigres affair has also cost Albanians around 90 million euros so far, without even working a day and with the prospect that, if they do work one day, they will pollute Vlora with soot!

 

The Voltalia affair is almost identical to the Tigers affair. The only difference is that it is talked about much less. Thanking the professional and courageous journalists of "Plug", we remain awaiting official responses from the Ministry and the Albanian Electric Power Corporation. In all cases, the opposition MPs will go to the end of this affair, just as they did with dozens and dozens of other corrupt affairs!