renewable energy

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The Enguri hydropower plant. Shota Kincha/OC Media.

Envrionment

Podcast | Going against the flow: Georgia’s controversial hydropower plants

by OC Media

•2 min read

Georgia generates a staggering 85% of its electricity through hydropower plants; however, while further exploitation of Georgia’s hydropower potential sounds promising on paper, local activists and researchers say that a lack of feasibility and safety research before the construction of hydropower plants could pose significant risks. This week on the Caucasus Digest, Hannah O’Sullivan, an energy researcher, talks about the present and future role of hydropower in Georgia.

Nenskra river, Svaneti. Image: Shota Kincha/OC Media

energy policy

Georgia’s ‘zombie’ hydropower projects

by Shota Kincha

•18 min read

As Georgia’s government promises to resume the construction of controversial hydropower plants (HPPs) in western Georgia, local people remain determined to fight against changes they believe could leave their land and livelihoods at risk. ‘I would have never imagined the topic of its construction would pop up again’, says Magda Guledani. In March 2018, Guledani was in her third trimester of pregnancy when she lay on the ground in front of construction equipment in the northwestern Georgian t

Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant. Photo via Wikipedia.

Armenia

Pashinyan: Negotiations underway over new nuclear power plant

by Ani Avetisyan

•1 min read

Negotiations over building a new Nuclear Power Plant in Armenia are underway, Pashinyan said on Wednesday during a parliamentary Q&A session․ According to Pashinyan, the offer to build the plant was made to Armenia by one of the owners of GeoProMining, one of the largest industrial companies in the country, which will also build a new large scale copper smelter in the country. ‘Armenia will no longer export copper concentrate and import ready-made copper’, Pashinyan said, adding that the

Two women kneel in front of police blocking off the Rioni Valley near the village of Gumati. Photo: Dato Simonia.

Georgia

Villages under blockade after government’s failed public outreach over energy project

by Shota Kincha

•3 min read

After unsuccessful outreach to local opponents of the Namakhvani HPP project, the government has moved on the offensive in the Rioni Valley, erecting police checkpoints blocking off the area and removing protest tents. On Monday, opponents of Namakhvani HPP tried to break through the police lines in the village of Gumati, 10 kilometres north of the west Georgian city of Kutaisi. It followed the removal by police the previous day of a protest camp set up in the village of Namokhvani. Th

The protest in Kutaisi on 28 February. Photo: EMC.

Environment

Thousands turn out for Kutaisi hydropower protest

by Shota Kincha

•3 min read

Thousands have turned out to protest in Kutaisi against the construction of the nearby Namakhvani hydropower project Protesters gathered on the west-Georgian city’s central square on Sunday calling on the authorities to revisit their ‘unlawful’ decision to support the project. Opponents have vowed to ‘picket’ the city in two weeks time if their demand is not met. ‘If they don’t take into account today’s meeting and what is happening here, we’ll agree to gather again in two weeks’, Varlam Gol

Adjara

Adjara authorities ‘may halt’ hydropower project after protests

by OC Media

•3 min read

The authorities of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, on Georgia’s Black Sea coast, have said they may abandon plans to construct a hydropower plant in Machakhela. Tornike Rizhvadze, the chair of the Adjaran government announced the news while meeting with students in the regional capital Batumi on 8 April. ‘We are closely studying the causes of people’s protest and at the same time, working with an investor. We will very soon decide on an alternative solution which might mean not going f

Armenia

Could renewable energy take off in Armenia’s highlands?

by Volodymyr Soboliev

•7 min read

In many remote areas of Armenia, energy poverty remains a serious concern. With no connection to the gas grid, villagers resort to burning illegally cut wood or cow dung to keep warm during winter. But in the border village of Kut, high in the mountains of eastern Armenia, a new hope is emerging in the form of renewable energy. Every morning Gayane stokes up glowing embers to heat the house before the family gets up. First, she cleans the stove in the dining room, to remove yesterday’