Georgia increases electricity exports from Azerbaijan by 39.6 pct

By Azernews

By Leman Mammadova

By strengthening its power system, Azerbaijan aims not only to meet the growing demand in local scale, but also to ensure energy security of neighboring countries.

Georgia increased electricity imports from Azerbaijan by 39.6 percent to 820.9 million kWh in January-September 2019, the Georgian Electricity System Commercial Operator (ESCO) has said in a message.

Total electricity imports by Georgia increased by 22.6 percent amounting to 1.20 billion kWh in the reporting period. Thus, 80.43 percent of Georgia’s total imports accounted for Azerbaijan.

In addition to Azerbaijan, Georgia purchased electricity from Russia - 199.7 million kWh (a decrease of 0.2 percent).

During the reporting period, Georgia exported 240.65 million kWh of electricity, of which 9.3 million kWh was delivered to Azerbaijan.

Meanwhile, electricity transit through the territory of Georgia was carried out only from Azerbaijan to Turkey, where 94.63 million kWh was transported.

In 2018, Azerbaijan's electricity exports increased by 165.2 million kWh in comparison with 2017 (1.28 billion kWh), reaching almost 1.5 billion kWh. As much as 1.23 billion kWh of this amount was exported to Georgia.

Electricity exports to Georgia increased by 175 million kWh or 14.2 percent in 2018 compared to 2017.

Recently, energy operators of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Russia held a working meeting in Tbilisi. The parties reviewed the mechanisms for regulating power flows and agreed to discuss the details related to the creation of the United Electric Power Ring, which will significantly improve the stability of the electrical systems of the three countries and increase the possibilities of electricity export and import.

Earlier, Azerbaijan and Georgia signed a memorandum on the prospects of Azerbaijani-Georgian power systems after discussion of the state of the power systems of Azerbaijan and Georgia, as well as the construction of a 330 kW two-way (duplex) transmission line.

Azerenergy is the main exporter of electric energy in Azerbaijan. There are over 30 power plants on the balance of Azerenergy. The total power generation capacity of these stations exceeds 6,000 MW, which allows generating about 24 billion kWh of electricity annually.

Since early May 2019, Azerenergy has started supplying electricity to Greece, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary through Georgia and Turkey. In the coming months, the company also plans to export electricity to Austria and Italy.