A Turkish-Korean consortium will shortly sign a memorandum to invest $1 billion in a project to build three 450 megawatt hydroelectric power stations, Georgia's Deputy Energy Minister said on Thursday, Reuters reported.
The consortium, comprising Turkey's Nuroli, South Korea's Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO) (015760.KS: Quote, Profile, Research) and SK Engineering & Construction [SKEC.UL] will build the power stations at Namakhvani on the river Rioni in the Tsageri district of Western Georgia.
"We have already given our consent to the consortium, and a corresponding memorandum will be signed soon," Marika Valishvili told Reuters, adding that the signing will probably be later this month.
The hydropower stations will produce a total of 1.65 gigawatt hours per year. Georgia now produces around eight gigawatt hours of electricity a year.
Georgia, which is rich in hydro resources, wants to attract investors in this sector including construction of the Oni hydroelectric power station in Western Georgia with annual capacity of 270 megawatts.
In early 2010, another $1 billion project to construct the Khudoni 750 megawatt hydro station is expected to be completed.