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Armenia Inaugurates New Power Plant

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  • Armenia Inaugurates New Power Plant

    TendersInfo
    April 22, 2010 Thursday


    Armenia Inaugurates New Power Plant



    The state-of-the-art plant was built in Yerevan in place of an
    obsolete facility with a $247 million loan provided by the Japanese
    government through the Japan Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC).
    The long-term loan was disbursed to the Armenian government on
    concessional terms in 2007.


    With a capacity of 242 megawatts, its gas-powered turbine will be able
    to generate approximately one-quarter of Armenia s current electricity
    output. Officials said it will also be twice as efficient as the plant
    s decommissioned unit and four other Soviet-era facilities of its kind
    functioning in the central Armenian town of Hrazdan.
    According to Energy and Natural Resources Minister Armen Movsisian,
    this is the main reason why the domestic price of electricity will not
    increase this year despite the recent 17 percent rise in the cost of
    gas imported from Russia. Thermal power plants currently meet roughly
    one-third of Armenia s electricity needs.
    It was possible to keep electricity tariffs unchanged in 2010 because
    of the fact that this new plant will go into service on April 21,
    Movsisian told journalists during the opening ceremony that was also
    attended by President Serzh Sarkisian.
    Movsisian described the new plant as the first major energy facility
    built in the country since independence. He said it will not only
    enable Armenia to economize on natural gas but also cut carbon
    emissions.
    Armenia s energy sector will expand further after the ongoing
    construction of the Hrazdan plant s new and even more powerful Fifth
    Unit. Russia s Gazprom monopoly acquired the incomplete facility in
    2006 as part of a complex agreement with the Yerevan government that
    raised its controlling stake in the Armenian gas distribution network
    to a commanding 80 percent. The Russian giant pledged to spend more
    than $200 million on finishing its protracted construction by 2011.
    The new Yerevan and Hrazdan facilities will pave the way for
    large-scale Armenian imports of natural gas from neighboring Iran
    through a pipeline constructed in late 2008. Armenia began receiving
    modest amounts of Iranian gas in May last year. With Russian gas
    essentially meeting its domestic needs, it is expected that the bulk
    of that gas will be converted into electricity and exported to the
    Islamic Republic.
    Movsisian revealed on Wednesday that his government would like to
    construct yet another thermal power plant in the coming years. I hope
    that we will be able to build another plant of this kind which will
    boost the capacity of our energy system and have a greater effect on
    our economy, he said.

    Armenia has had an electricity surplus ever since overcoming a severe
    energy crisis in the early and mid-1990s by reopening its Soviet-built
    nuclear power station at Metsamor nearly 15 years ago.
    Ltd.
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