BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 29
By Tamilla Mammadova – Trend:
Repair work at Georgia’s Enguri hydroelectric power station (HPP) can no longer be delayed, said Chairman of the Board of Directors of Enguri HPP Levan Mebonia, Trend reports via Georgian media outlets.
According to him, from February to May 2021, it will be necessary to repair the bypass tunnel of the Enguri hydroelectric station with a length of 15.5 km, which supplies the units with water from the reservoir.
Because of this, it will be necessary to turn it off and stop all five blocks that generate electricity.
“All the experts involved in the case, as well as long-term specialists at the station say that repairs can no longer be postponed. Otherwise, an accident will occur,” Mebonia said.
The Enguri HPP and the downstream Vardnili HPP Cascade were built during the 1960-70s as part of the same scheme. Enguri HPP (5 units of 260MW capacity each) releases its water into the Vardnili HPP water channel, where four power plants were initially in operation. Three of these plants were totally destroyed during the civil war in early 1990’s. The Enguri HPP itself suffered from lack of maintenance and until recently only four out of five units were operating at 80% of their capacity.
The EBRD has been involved in the rehabilitation of the Enguri Hydro Power Plant since 1998, initially with civil works on the dam, later with the rehabilitation of the units at the power plant.