Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 13
By Elena Kosolapova- Trend: The Energy Bridge Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey is ready to transport electricity, Georgian Deputy Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Mariam Valishvili told Trend on Dec. 13.
Georgia has completed the construction of all the transmission lines and other infrastructure within the project and have tested them.
On Dec. 11 the line was opened in Georgia, Valishvili said.
Georgia will be able to launch electricity export in April as it has electricity excess from April until August, the deputy minister said. Meanwhile the country experiences electricity shortages in the other periods of year. Georgia will be able to export 300-400 million kilowatt-hours during the export period at the first stage of the project operation, according to Valishvili.
As the project's infrastructure is ready, private companies may start negotiating on electricity supplies. No one agreement on electricity export has been reached yet as the construction works within the project has been just completed, the deputy minister said.
Valishvili also noted that Georgia is building a number of small and medium hydro power plants across the country which will increase electricity production within the country.
In particular four hydro power plants with 25-30 MW installed capacity were launched in Georgia in 2013. One more hydro power with a capacity of 10 MW is scheduled for launch in the Kakheti region near Akhmeta in February, she said.