OPPORTUNITIES OF ARMENIA’S SUPPLYING TURKEY WITH ELECTRICITY BECOME REAL AFTER SIGNING OF PROTOCOLS
Noyan Tapan
Oct 16, 2009
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 16, NOYAN TAPAN. The agreement on power delivery from
Armenia to Turkey envisaged exporting power to Turkey from April 1,
2009, but the political problems in Turkey preventing the agreement
from coming into force, RA Minister of Energy and Natural Resources
Armen Movsisian said at the October 16 press conference held at the
government. He added that the Turkish side has repeatedly tried to
find a solution to this problem.
Nevertheless, in his words, the opportunities of Armenia’s supplying
power to Turkey have become real after the signing of Armenia-Turkey
protocols. He announced that the representatives of Turkish "Unit"
Company will come to Armenia until late October in order to "make
this agreement a reality".
To recap, Unit Company signed the agreement on power delivery from
Armenia to Turkey with the RA Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources
and Electric Networks of Armenia CJSC during the visit of Turkish
President to Armenia in September 2008. By the agreement, 1.5 billion
kwh of electric power must be exported annually in the initial period.
In parallel with increasing the capacities, exports are likely to
reach 3.5 billion kwh.
In response to the question about whether Armenia really takes
interest in Turkey’s energy market, the minister replied that any
market is interesting for an energy system. According to him, there is
power shortage in Turkey which imports quite a considerable amount of
electricity. "They import power from the north, but not from the south,
whereas we have capacities to export electricity," A. Movsisian said.