Interfax
July 29 2004

Georgian, Armenian power systems to work in parallel

Tbilisi. (Interfax) – The energy system of Georgia is to start to
work in parallel with the system in Armenia in the near future, which
will allow it to join in an energy exchange between Armenia and Iran.

Georgian Energy Minister Nika Gilauri told journalists that this
agreement was reached at a meeting this week of an intergovernmental
Armenian-Georgian commission for energy cooperation.

He said that as part of this project Georgia will export excess
electricity to Iran in the summer period through the Armenian system,
and will import power from Iran through Armenia in winter.

The minister said that a group of Georgian energy workers would
travel to Yerevan soon to iron out the technical details of the
project.

Georgia imports 120-130 megawatts of electricity per day from Armenia
in the winter period.

Gilauri also said that during the commission meeting, the Georgian
side proposed to look into the possibility of reducing tariffs for
electricity supplied from Armenia. Tariffs currently amount to 2.54
cents per kWh, which is 0.9 cents higher than the tariff for
electricity imported from Russia. However, “at this stage the
Armenian side is refraining from considering this issue,” Gilauri
said.