BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 28
By Tamilla Mammadova – Trend:
Electricity trade deficit widened by 29.7 percent year-on-year to $58.2 million in Georgia from January through November 2019, Trend reports with reference to Georgian investment company Galt & Taggart.
As reported, in 11 months of 2019, electricity consumption increased by 1.6 percent year-on-year, significantly exceeding projected indicators, as well as growth levels of previous periods.
On supply side, hydrogenation decreased by 9.2 percent year-on-year due to unfavorable hydrological conditions.
Reduced hydro generation created demand on electricity imports (+10.5 percent year-on-year) and thermal generation (+29.4 percent year-on-year), despite the low consumption growth rate. Importantly, 36 percent of imported electricity came from Russia in 11 months of 2019.
As reported, the revisedtariffs for Khrami 1 Hydro Power Plant (HPP) and Khrami 2 HPP reached 10.8 tetri (4 cents) /kWh (+18.5 percent year-on-year) and 12.3 tetri (4 cents) /kWh (+15.9 percent year-on-year), respectively.
Notably, Khami 2 HPP’s has the highest regulated tariff on the market, which, according to current market rules, is used as reference price of balancing electricity, purchased by the Georgian Commercial Electricity System Operator (ESCO) from deregulated small capacity HPPs.
Respectively, after enforcement of new tariffs on Khrami cascade on December 19, the purchase price of balancing electricity will increase to 12.3 tetri (4 cents) /kWh from the current 10.6 tetri (4 cents)/kWh.
Thermal power plant Gardabani-2 (TPP) has been put into test mode. The 250 MW plant is equipped with modern technologies and will be able to produce electricity more efficiently than the old ones.
Unlike other TPPs, Gardabani-2 will not receive a guaranteed capacity fee. Its income source is a 14-year guaranteed power purchase agreement for 1,200 kWh annually at USc 5.5/kWh. The owner of Garabani-2 TPP is the state-owned company - Georgian Oil and Gas Corporation.
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