Naira Badalian. The solar photovoltage station "Masrik-1" in the community of Masrik of the Gegharkunik region of Armenia will provide 2% of the total energy produced in the republic. Answering the question of ArmInfo, Deputy Minister of Energy Resources and Natural Infrastructures Hayk Harutyunyan said at a press conference on April 4. The construction program will start in 2019 and will be completed by the end of the year.

The Deputy Minister reminded that about 7 dozens of companies submitted a preliminary application for participation in the international tender for the investor's choice of the project, 20 companies submitted an application for participation in the prequalification stage, 10 – overcame it. Already 5 of them submitted the final application for the project. According to the results of the international tender, the international consortium, consisting of the world-renowned companies – the Netherlands Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV) and the Spanish FSL Solar SL, which won the international tender, was awarded the right to build a 55-MW Masrik-1 industrial power plant in Armenia low tariff from the future solar generation facility – $ 0.0419 of electricity without VAT or 20.11 AMD per 1 kW / h of electricity. "For comparison, I note that the tariff for small hydropower projects in Armenia is 23.8 AMD per 1 kWh of electricity, that is 20% more expensive," Harutyunyan said.

According to the Deputy Minister, the project is unique in that the heliostation will be built exclusively on private sector funds, in contrast to world practice, where the state necessarily has its participation. In exchange, the state undertakes that within 20 years "Electric Networks of Armenia" will purchase electricity at the proposed tariff. At the same time, Masrik investor will provide 80 million drams to implement investment projects for his needs, and an additional 6 million drams will be annually transferred to the communal budget in the form of land and property taxes. In the process of construction, an additional 50 workplaces will be created, and in the course of operation – 20 permanent jobs. The program for the construction of a solar power station, according to the representative of the Ministry of Energy, broke all the stereotypes that this type of renewable energy sources (RES) are expensive, and it will take a lot of time to implement these technologies in Armenia. Meanwhile, it is already obvious that the tariff offered from this power generation facility is lower than the average tariff and can positively influence the final consumer tariff if its share in the total mass of electricity production is increased.

In addition, when considering applications of Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV) and FSL Solar S.L, it became clear that Armenia offers a number of innovative solutions in the field that will significantly increase the plant's productivity. The proposed technical solution is a solar module on a single-axis tracking system (polar tracking – a horizontal tracking tool), which allows you to increase by about 20% Performance with the same installed capacity. The project will install more than 170 thousand solar panels and 3 thousand tracking tools Monoline 3H. Thus, if the Armenian side initially counted on the fact that the annual volume produced the energy of the solar station "Masrik-1" will be about 90 million Kv / h, has now adjusted its expectations to 120 million kW / h.