ARMENIA ON TRACK TO EXPORT ENERGY
Hurriyet
June 8 2009
Turkey
YEREVAN – Armenia is working to prepare its energy grid to handle
the export of electricity to Turkey this spring, Armenian Minister
of Energy and Natural Resources Armen Movsisyan said in Yerevan on
Wednesday, Armenian Public Radio reported.
Armenia is on track to begin exporting electricity to Turkey this
spring in line with an agreement reached by the two governments last
year, Movsisyan said speaking to reporters in Yerevan. The process
is waiting on corresponding preparations to conclude in Turkey. But
working out the details of how the energy will be exported to Turkey
is not that easy, he said, adding that although Armenia has "a rather
rich experience" as an energy exporter to Georgia and Iran, it has
no experience "working with the corresponding system of Turkey."
Under an agreement signed late last year between the Armenian
Electricity Networks CJSC and the Turkish UNIT Company, Armenia
was expected to start supplying 1.5 billion kilowatts per hour of
electricity a year to Turkey in March, with that amount eventually
increasing to 3.5 billion kilowatts per hour a year, Asbarez.com
reported. That time frame required technical preparations at power
grids in eastern Turkey to be completed by March. Movsisyan had said
in September that the infrastructure was in place on the Armenian side
to deliver the electricity but that repairs to transmission lines
and the installation of a new transformer in Turkey would take four
to five months.
The power-selling deal was announced following Turkish President
Abdullah Gul’s September visit to Yerevan and was based on a time
frame that required technical preparations at power grids in eastern
Turkey to be completed by March.