TIRANA, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Albania exported 1,868 Gigawatthours (GWh) of electricity in 2016, registering an increase byalmost twice as much compared to 2015, National Institute ofStatistics (INSTAT) said Friday.

According to INSTAT, the export growth came as a result of thefavorable hydro conditions but also due to the increased powergeneration capacities of the country over the past few years.

INSTAT data also showed that net domestic electricity productionwas estimated at around 7,136 GWh in 2016 from 5,866 GWh producedin 2015, a year-on-year growth of 22 percent.

Electricity from the private hydro-power plants accounted for 29percent of the total production, compared with 24 percent in 2015,statistics confirmed.

On the other hand, power losses in the national transmission anddistribution networks were reduced to around 28 percent, down from30.2 percent registered in 2015.

According to INSTAT, electricity losses were mainly technicallosses due to deterioration of the aging distribution andtransmission assets. Enditem