Armenian power plant to be upgraded thanks to Japanese loan

Arminfo
26 May 05

YEREVAN

The Armenian National Assembly today approved an agreement on
allocating a credit to Armenia by the Japan Bank for International
Cooperation (JBIC) to the tune of 15.928 bn yen (150.2 m dollars) for
the modernization of the Yerevan thermal power plant.

Presenting the agreement, Armenian Deputy Energy Minister Ara Simonyan
reported that a new combined cycle power generating unit with a
capacity of 200-210 MW will be constructed at the Yerevan thermal
power plant for this money by 2008. It is planned that the thermal
power plant will operate annually for 7,000 hours and produce 1.4-1.5
bn kWh of power.

The credit agreement was signed in Yerevan on 29 March 2005. The
Yerevan thermal power plant itself, to which the Armenian MPs also
granted tax concessions, has been made responsible for the
implementation of the programme.

To recap, the programme is connected directly with the construction of
the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline, since payment for the Iranian gas will
be made by delivering Armenian power produced at the Yerevan thermal
power plant on the basis of three kWh [of electricity] for 1 cu.m. of
gas.

At the present time the Yerevan thermal power plant is using up to 50
MW of its capacity even though its technical life span has already
been exhausted.

The JBIC credit will be granted to the Yerevan thermal power plant for
a period of 40 years with an annual interest rate of 0.75 per cent but
at a reduced interest rate for the first 10 years