Banja hydropower plant

Banja hydropower plant started commercial operations in Autumn 2016 as the first plant to be completed by Devoll Hydropower Sh.A. (DHP), an Albanian-registered company, owned and operated by Statkraft.

Devoll Hydropower builds, owns and operates hydropower plants in cascade along the Devoll River in southeast Albania, based on a concession agreement signed between Statkraft and the Government of Albania.

Banja hydropower plant consists of an embankment dam with an impervious clay core approximately 80 metres high. The plant is equipped with two large Francis turbine units and one small Francis turbine unit and has an installed capacity of approximately 72 MW. The average annual production is approximately 255 GWh.

The plant utilises a head between 175 and 95 metres above sea level. At its highest regulated water level of 175 metres above sea level, the reservoir has a surface area of approximately 14 square kilometres and a storage capacity of 400 million cubic metres.

Banja hydropower plant is part of the Devoll Hydropower Project which consists of development, planning, construction and operation of the power plants Banja and Moglicë, with a total installed capacity of approximately 269 MW and a planned annual production of approximately 700 GWh.

The concession agreement also includes an option for a third hydropower plant, Kokel.