Baku, Azerbaijan, July 1
By Tamilla Mammadova - Trend:
The level of electricity consumption in Georgia exceeds production, Trend reports with reference to commersant.gе.
Irina Milorava, Chairman of the Georgian National Energy and Water Supply Regulatory Commission, believes that the market needs to be liberalized and this will help to reduce the deficit.
According to her, total electricity consumption is similar to previous years, while the growth of domestic consumption in the country averages to 5 percent.
According to Milorava, nine new hydropower plants were commissioned last year, but import of energy to the country increased almost three times. In her words, this shows the need to develop hydropower and use own resources.
Members of the commission see the solution of this problem in accelerating the construction of hydropower plants.
“The best way out of this situation is the construction of hydropower plants, acceleration of production rates, and generation of electricity by thermal power plants,” the chairman noted.
Members of the commission consider that the launch of the Shah Deniz 2 gas pipeline will help to address the issue. The pipeline that will transport gas from Shah Deniz 2 is expected to be launched in 2020.
As reported, the growth of electricity consumption is due to many factors. An increase in consumption is observed both in the household and in the non-residential sector. For example, the tourism sector also had a significant share in electricity consumption.