Georgia to Increase Gas to Power

Georgia is planning to have another combined-cycle gas turbine power plant, with capacity of 230 MW, in Gardabani in eastern Georgia, to be operational in winter 2020. The prime minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili said the construction of Gardabani II project was another important step towards strengthening Georgia's energy security.

The existing power plants in the country are not adequate to meet demand. The agreement on the implementation of this project was signed with China Tianchen Engineering Corporation.

Turkish Calik Energy built the 237-MW Gardabani I power plant in 2015 and Azerbaijan signed a deal with Georgia in March 2016 to supply a further 250-300mn m³/yr to Georgia by 2028 to meet the fuel needs of power plants. Georgia buys Azerbaijani gas under an agreement signed in 2007, but the gas price in the new agreement is based on oil and products prices.

Georgia also takes 5% of Shah Deniz stage 1 gas exported to Turkey as a transit fee. This amount will be close to 1bn m³/yr when Azerbaijan starts to deliver 16bn m³/yr of Shah Deniz 2 gas to Turkey and the European Union in 2021.

Georgia's prime minister, Giorgi Kvirikashvili (Credit: govt)

Georgia intakes 2bn m³/yr of Azerbaijani gas, of which 250mn m³ is transit fee and the rest is purchased. Georgia also takes 250mn m³/yr as transit fee from Russian gas supplied to Armenia. In total, the country’s gas demand stands at 2.25bn m³/yr, but the figure is expected to reach 2.6-2.7bn m³/yr in 2020.

Azerbaijan desk