00:02Albania's vast supply of renewable energy is cushioning its consumers from oil and gas price hikes due to the Iran
00:09war.
00:09The Dreen River, swelled by winter rain and melting snow, powers hydroelectric dams, providing nearly 90 percent of the nation's
00:17electricity.
00:18The Energy Ministry told Reuters another 10 percent comes from solar power, making it one of the most renewable-based
00:24electricity systems in Europe.
00:26The country still imports some power when demand peaks and consumers are protected by government price subsidies.
00:32It's a potential model for renewable energy, which analysts say could help protect other households from steep price rises and
00:40bolster Europe's green energy transition.
00:42So how have other European nations fared?
00:45The countries most reliant on oil and gas face steeper price rises, adding to inflationary pressure and increasing the chance
00:52of a global recession.
00:53A familiar worry for Europeans following an energy crisis triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
01:01Countries like Italy, Germany and Greece are gas-dependent but are trying to increase capacity for solar power,
01:07although over-reliance on solar is not without its issues, with prices spiking at certain times of day.
01:13Greece has strong solar generation, but its power grid operator also wants a lignite-fired plant which burns brown coal,
01:21earmarked for closure, to stay open for at least another year.
01:24Coal-producing countries like Poland and Serbia have fared well.
01:29In France, which generates 70 percent of its electricity from nuclear power, prices have risen less.
01:35Back in Albania, residents living near the Vaui Dios plant joke that hydropower is the only positive legacy of their
01:43country's communist past.
01:44Energy expert and former deputy energy minister Jerzy Simoku sees it powering the future too.
01:52I see Albania's future the way our predecessors saw it many years ago. They relied on renewable resources.
02:00We must continue with renewable energy, not because they were communists and we are Democrats, but because of the very
02:07advanced vision we are bringing to this country.
02:09We should develop only in this way, only through renewable sources, because there are many benefits.
02:16We increase security of supply and, above all, we reduce the cost of electricity production, while the rest of the
02:23world is exposed to rising costs because of the crisis.
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