Riparimi i Portës Tre në Hidrocentralin Fierzë
Initially, Hidrocentrali i Fierzes, the largest in the country, began operation in 1978 and since then no maintenance repairs had been carried out on the gates.
Albanian Power Corporation, with the support of the World Bank, continues the work to repair and rehabilitate the systems at this hydro power plant. The project for the electro-mechanical rehabilitation of maintenance gate no. 3 at HEC Fierzë has been successfully completed. Following the completion of this phase of the project, testing processes for gate no. 3 have also been conducted, meeting all expectations. The full rehabilitation of maintenance gate no.3 at HEC Fierze is being carried out for the first time since the construction and operation of the Fierze Hydrocentral. The Director of the Albanian Power Corporation, Benet Beci, stated that: The rehabilitation processes at HEC Fierzë continue with discharge gate no.3. This project is funded by the World Bank and amounts to 6.3 million Euros.
The Fierze Hydrocentral is built on the Drin River near the village of Fierze. Construction began in November 1971 and it was put into operation in 1978. It has a 160 m high stone dam, reservoir, and a high-head delta bottom. The dam creates a reservoir, Lake Fierze, with a volume of 2.7 billion cubic meters of water.
The Fierze Hydrocentral, built with equipment from China but 100% conceptualized by Albanian engineers, has served as a primary source in electricity production, even supplying neighboring countries in some cases. Among the last hydro power plants built by the communist system, Fierza has a production capacity of 500 megawatts (MW), one of the largest in the Balkans (the first being considered the Danube Hydrocentral in Serbia).
It was October 1978 when the first turbine of the Fierza HEC, built with the aid of the Chinese state, began operation. The start of electricity production from Fierza coincided with the 70th anniversary of the birth of the dictator, bringing a doubling of electricity production. It is not entirely known how much the construction of Fierza cost, but what is certain is that the equipment and technology from China were exchanged for chromium minerals, and the entire cost of the energy work was paid off after three years of operation (1981). “All the objects and sub-objects of this work were designed by Albanian engineers and built by Albanian builders.
The Fierze HEC is the penultimate energy work built by the communist system. After the construction of the Fierze HEC, another project was undertaken, that of Koman on the Drin River. After this hydrocentral, work began on another energy work, the Banja HEC, but the process was interrupted due to the change of regime.
