Azernews.Az

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.

Since July 1, Georgia has been importing electricity from Azerbaijan, the Georgian Electricity System Commercial Operator (ESCO) said in a message.

In July, Georgia usually exports electricity, and exports are almost at zero level.

Currently, imports from Azerbaijan are associated with low hydroelectric power generation, as well as increased electricity consumption in the summer.

Since early July until July 18, Georgia imported 41.1 million kWh of electricity from Azerbaijan.

The volume of electricity imported by Georgia in July last year amounted to 1.16 million kWh, 1.14 million kWh of which accounted for the share of Azerbaijan, and the rest - 17,730 kWh - for Russia.

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 many 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.

In recent years, Azerbaijan has turned from an electricity importing country into a country exporting electricity. Azerbaijan, which has been exporting electricity to neighboring countries for a long time, has already begun exporting energy to European countries.

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.

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.

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Leman Mammadova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @leman_888

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