My target, increased Corporation revenues

He was appointed director of the Energy Corporation, in a transparent and professional process, where in two phases of the interview he received maximum assessments from all members of the Board of Directors and as well as British Embassy experts, the process supervised by civil society, rejecting the eventual allegations that he came to this position only because he bears the name Thaci and why he is close to the current president.

The word is for Najazi Thaci, the graduate engineer of Elektroci, who is part of KEK from 2007. The new head of this company in an interview for Gazeta News shows what the current situation at KEK is like, what its main objectives are to move this company forward, while speaking of exhumations in Hade and Shipitulla, the construction of thermal power plant “Kosova e Re” and other issues...

 You took office as KEK director weeks ago. What's the general status of this company? What is the number of workers and how much annual gain?

Njazi Thaci: First let me give you a general picture of the situation in the Corporation and then focus on the other questions you're interested in.

KEK, with power generation capacities, in thermal power plants “Kosovo A” and “Kosova B” is made up of about 97 %s of the energy being produced in the country, and with this production covers about 90 %s of consumption in Kosovo.

As for business development, electricity production and coal generation, I believe you are informed that despite continued challenges we have managed to keep KEK at the best possible level. In a business aspect, as you have seen in the annual report of the Ministry of Economic Development, we are the public company with the best performance in the market, with about 20m euros in annual profit.

All financial obligations derived from the drilling process have been successfully closed, which has been a beautiful burden.

All obligations we have to the state, in addition to tax obligations, tax payments, obligations from the loan we received a few years ago from the state budget and all other contractual and legal obligations for workers.

The technical and operational part of the time we've implemented all the envisioned remontes and, thanks to that, they're keeping them at work at maximum work in the production of the “Kosovas A” and “Kosovas B” thermal power blocks.

The coal section, despite having had a total blockade for about a year and a half, has managed to return enough coal reserves for the winter season.

Currently, according to the latest report, in the storage of “Kosova A” we have over 88 thousand tons of coal reserves, while in “Kosovo B” over 293 thousand tons of reserves. We have over 382 million tons of coal in two warehouses.

What are your main goals that will base your work on bringing this company forward?

Njazi Thaci: Initially, it should be a lot of luck that we've now reached the stage when we're discussing big and long-term projects and we're not focused only on keeping the assets on generating capacities as they are currently. Thanks to a lot of hard work and the maximum commitment that has been done for a decade, we've come to the enlargement phase and we're working in some ways. My goal is to increase the Corporation's revenues by increasing dynamics and at the same time developing in several other ways.

First, we have started preparations to enter one of the largest solar power generation projects. This is possible and KEK has the capacity to do so. We have degraded lands, so those lands where we've dug coals and we're aiming to turn them into solar parks. With this project, EU targets in the energy sector will also be achieved in the condition of 20 % alternative or green energy whatever we call it.

The other target is to increase corporate revenues by selling coal. KEK has so far been contracting for the sale of coal only with the company “Kosova Thrgjili” for the domestic market, but now we are making preparations to sell for the foreign market. Our strategy is to sell amounts of coal in the countries of the region, not risking reserves in any case for our thermal power plants. This amount of coal we're aiming to put into the market is a huge amount that we're not even using at most.

Kosovo is the third country in Europe for coal reserves, while fifth place in the world. Given this fact, will you use these reserves to increase KEK's revenues?

Njazi Thaci: We mentioned it earlier, we're already working on it. All the calculations have been made, and the plan on how best the coal is used in the mines. With the market a little bit more detailed, during the time, the great excavators release the coal, a beautiful amount remains, as we call them, in the pocket because it cannot be technically manipulated by the excavors of the big men to collect this amount. So there's an amount of coal that we're going to extract with discontinual technique, and that's how we're going to sell for the outside market. And depending on the demands, we can also sell amounts of coal that are destined for our thermal power plants, but in periods when they are out of order because of planned remonts.

What about the expropriations in Hades and Shiptule? Has this matter completely ended, or has it not?

Njazi Thaci: As for the first zone, where we've been trapped for about 14 months, it's all successfully finalised. I think in the record we have managed to close all financial obligations to owners. There's also been a big deal with an increased dynamic of government and evaluation commissions, and after reaching agreement we have completed our obligation to the owners of these assets. The 120 - acre [120 ha] area is now under way.

A highly controversial issue is also the construction of the “New Kosovo thermal power plant. What do you think?

Njazi Thaci: Sometimes I've been declared about this question. I think that any investment in new energy capacities is welcome, strengthens the country's economy increases the well-being of citizens and, above all, increases the power of the state. Kosovo thankfully has this coal wealth and should be used in good terms for citizens and the state. So I appreciate building new power capacities. In other ways it's not in my powers to appreciate.

We as KEK have our obligations for the coal fuel supply of the thermal plant once the New Kosovo “is built, and in this part we are making all preparations with the opening of the new mine and we are sure to stick to our contracts and obligations.

During your recent visit to the thermal power plant, you have said that the equipment has passed every lifetime. How hard is it to work with them, and is there a plan for buying new equipment?

Njazi Thaci: KEK's newest generation unit was launched 35 years ago, so in 1983 the bloc “B2” of the thermal power plant “Kosovo B” was released. It has been very difficult because of the oldness and also the complex nature of this industry.

But thanks to enormous commitment and constant care, we have managed to maintain and record records in production as if they were of the latest technology. For the first time, I was referring to a statistics that illustrates what we say as a record, which is probably incredible for all those who know the nature of this industry and the technology we have.

By 2013, as you can see in the annual reports of declarations, we have reached the highest production point by passing the level of the entity in the first year of production - when it was new. So we managed to keep them in production and maintenance better than in the early years when they were installed. For example, in 1983 there are over 100 unplanned hits in a year, and today our blocks occur with less than 10 times a year. This has been achieved thanks to a great commitment, investments that have been made, and planning in time for regular remittances.

Finally, what will be the state of electricity this winter? Will there be 24 hours of electricity?  

Njazi Thaci: KEK, under the license from 2013, has exclusive responsibility for the production of electricity and coal explosives. There are other operators in the market who are responsible for the supply. The Kosovo Energy Corporation, over the nine months of this year, has succeeded in implementing conform production of energy planning and balance. We have also made all necessary preparations for future periods. All the remonts were made according to pre-planned planning and enough coal reserves were created. As a result, we are convinced that production will continue at the same pace, strictly respecting contractual obligations to KEDS/ KESCO, which has the license and obligation to supply consumers with electricity.

Thus, by implementing plans for sustainable production and by providing the entire amount of electricity produced by KEK for the domestic market, we create the possibility of a low price citizens pay.