Baku, Azerbaijan, July 8
By Tamilla Mammadova - Trend:
Energy consumption in Georgia is growing very rapidly, and the energy balance is becoming scarce again, former Minister of Energy of the country David Mirtskhulava said, Trend reports with reference to commersant.ge.
According to him, it is necessary to begin the construction of hydroelectric power plants, otherwise, Georgia’s dependence on energy imports will constantly grow.
Electricity imports to Georgia are growing; this figure increased by 215 percent in 2018 compared to 2016, while for 4 months of 2019 electricity was imported by 318 percent more than in the same period of 2018. In January-May 2019, Georgia imported 614.101 million kWh of electricity, which is 4.8 percent more than the same period last year (585.959 million kW/h).
According to the ex-minister, over the past years, the main achievement was that Azerbaijan became the main importer of electricity, which is better both in terms of power quality and energy security. Baku, which is a long-term and very reliable partner of Georgia, is building a large number of power plants, and by 2023, it will have an excess of power generation by about 1,000 megawatts, and it will remain the main source of electricity imports in Georgia.
In January-May 2019, Georgia received from Baku 539.67 million kW/h of electricity. This figure is 5.7 percent more than the same period last year (510.459 million kW/h).
JSC Georgian State Electrosystem (GSE) presents several forecasts for the growth of electricity consumption. According to the reports, moderate growth in consumption equals to 5 percent, and optimistic 7 percent. In the case of the timely commissioning of a hydropower plant, in any revised consumption scenario, after 2020–2022, the Georgian energy system will no longer depend on imported electricity or imported fuel required for its production.