The FINANCIAL — Four hydropower plants, one built by American investment and the others by Peri Ltd will produce 700 million kW/hour of electricity, which is 8 percent of the energy used in Georgia.
The FINANCIAL — Four hydropower plants, one built by American investment and the others by Peri Ltd will produce 700 million kW/hour of electricity, which is 8 percent of the energy used in Georgia. As a result the local budget will have GEL 2 million extra contributed to it annually. One plant is already in use, three others are in the process of being completed. Peri is waiting for permission for one more hydropower plant.
“We will be paying GEL 2 million to the local budget,” said Lasha Iordanishvili, Deputy Director of Peri. “This money will enable the authorities to implement several municipal and infrastructural projects. One third of this money is enough to pay for all of the electricity consumption of the Kazbegi population.”
The total amount of investment in the four hydropower plants is about USD 135 million. The biggest one – Dariali Plant, which will generate 500 million kWh annually, is being built by American investment. Its installed capacity is 108 megawatts. The plant will be completed by the end of 2014.
“Robbins is our American partner. They participated in the building of the plant in the Pankisi Gorge. They later expressed the wish to cooperate with us in other projects,” Iordanishvili explained. “With more than 60 years of innovation and experience, The Robbins Company is the world’s foremost developer and manufacturer of advanced, underground construction machinery.”
The installed capacity of the Larsi Plant is 19.5 megawatts which will generate 100 million kWh annually. Peri is waiting for the final permission for the Kazbegi hydropower plant which will generate 30 million kWh annually with installed capacity of 6 megawatts. The building of these plants will finish this year.
The Dariali Plant was projected by an Icelandic company in cooperation with Georgian experts. Local experts are fully involved in all the processes. But the participation of a prominent foreign developer is essential for getting international funding. Georgians have quite good experience and knowledge but no global name. On the other hand, Peri is trying to employ as many Georgians as possible.
Today the company employs up to 500 individuals. When the plants are in use they will be employing 120 local residents. Their monthly salaries will vary from GEL 500 to GEL 2,000. Local people will be employed at a hotel and market, which will be finished in 2014.
“We’d like to develop the infrastructure in the regions where we work. Therefore we decided to build a market and hotel as well as a restaurant. People will have the possibility to sell their products in this market. At the same time we are working on the creation of tourism routes,” he said.
Peri is to realize 100 percent of the generated energy in Georgia. The company has already signed a contract with ESCO (Georgian Energy System Commercial Operator) as a result of which ESCO will purchase all electricity.
“We are selling the product with quite reasonable and acceptable prices. ESCO is the only organization today which is suitable for these sized contracts. At the same time, ESCO is a state organization and therefore a good option for selling the energy,” Iordanishvili noted.
“At the moment we are not interested in exporting the energy. It may become a later step in our development. I don’t know where ESCO will sell the electricity,” he added.
Georgia imported 614.59 million kWh in 2012, while export totalled 528.15 million kWh for the same period. Georgia’s trade partners are Turkey, Azerbaijan, Russia and Armenia. The biggest partner is Russia and it is only since the beginning of 2013 that Georgia has restarted trade relations with this country.
Use of electricity in 2012 totalled 9 billion 200 million kWh. “The number is growing from year to year in Georgia. With great effort of the government the trade balance is more or less equal. We have a deficit in winter, while a surplus is clear in summer. This provides the possibility to have balanced annual import and export. Still Georgia has to develop more plants to ensure its electro independence,” the Deputy Director explained.
Iordanishvili appreciates the previous government’s support for the building of power plants. According to him, Kakha Kaladze is a very successful minister and is an encouraging factor for the new hydropower plants.
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