Azerbaijan to build new hydropower plants
By Nazrin Gadimova
Azerbaijan plans to build 34 small hydropower plants with a total capacity of 239.9 megawatts over the short and long term, the Ministry of Industry and Energy said on September 12.
According to the ministry, the total average annual capacity of these plants will be 1.2 billion kilowatt/hour.
23 of the planned hydroelectric power plants will be of derivational type and will be located on unregulated rivers. The total capacity of the derivational hydropower plants will be 127.2 megawatts. In particular, six derivational power plants will be built on the rivers Gudyalchay and Gusarchay, with a total capacity of 31.9 and 27.7 megawatts accordingly.
Most of the pressure in the derivational hydropower plants is generated through special channels or tunnels, the so-called diversion culverts.
The remaining plants will be located on channels, irrigation reservoirs and reservoirs, whose construction is planned.
Azerbaijan is implementing a program on the construction of 15 small hydroelectric power plants with a total production capacity of 77.2 megawatts. The construction of these plants can solve three main issues of nationwide importance: regulation of mudslides, power generation and the creation of new irrigation systems. Thus, in the long term it is considered useful to launch 61 small hydropower plants.
The share of hydropower plants in Azerbaijan's energy system is about 12 percent. The HPP produced 1.82 billion kilowatt/hour out of the 22.98 billion KWt/hr of electricity in 2012.
Earlier, Finance Minister Samir Sharifov said about 3.1 billion manats have been invested in the energy sector of Azerbaijan from both internal and external sources over the past 10 years, and as a result 14 power plants have been built and put into operation and high-voltage power lines laid in three directions.