Seven New Hydro Power Stations Planned in Adjara

The Georgian Ministry of Energy signed a contract with Turkish investors on February 28 on the construction of seven hydro power stations in Adjara.

According to the memorandum signed by Aleksandre Khetaguri, the Georgian energy minister, and Metin Kumusoglu, the director general of Adjara Energy, a company set up recently for this particular project, USD 167 million will be invested in constructing the seven hydro power stations. Total capacity is expected to be 119.9 megawatts.

Khetaguri said that construction would start in spring, 2009 and all seven hydro power stations were expected to be put into operation gradually, with the last one fully operational by January 2015.

“2,000 jobs will be created [in the construction process] and approximately 200 permanent jobs will be created after the construction is over,” Khetaguri said.

Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze said earlier this month that the Ministry of Energy would launch a project to attract investment for the construction of small and medium-sized hydro power plants. He said the goal was to attract around EUR 1 billion. “As a result [of this project] we expect to generate one billion U.S. dollars through the export of electricity in the next four or five years,” Gurgenidze said on February 19.