2022-03-09
Giorgi Gigineishvili Signed the Contract on Construction of New OHLs
At the Head Office of the Georgian State Electrosystem (GSE) its Director General, Giorgi Gigineishvili, and Senior Vice President of the Indian construction company, Sumant Srivastava, signed the contract on construction of Overhead Transmission Lines (OHL) Tskaltubo-Akhaltsikhe and Akhaltsikhe -Tortum.
The Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Economy & Sustainable Development of Georgia, Levan Davitashvili, the Ambassador of India to Armenia and Georgia (based in Yerevan), Kishan Dan Dewal, and GSE Director General, Giorgi Gigineishvili, addressed the audience with speech. The European Union (EU) Delegation and KfW representatives also attended the contract signature ceremony.
“Implementation of such large-scale projects will result in capacity increase of the regional infrastructure, strengthening its reliability, maximum use of the Country’s export and transit potencial,”- GSE Director General Giorgi Gigineishvili stated.
The financing of this project with a contract value of approximately EUR 62 Mln. is provided by KfW on behalf of the Federal Republic of Germany and EU. The construction works will be implemented by the Indian construction company KEC International Limited. Supervision-engineering services for the construction works will be undertaken by the German consultant company Fichtner GmbH.
The project will be implemented within the framework of Energy Network Improvement Programme (ENIP). ENIP is financed in the context of German Financial Cooperation with Georgia through KfW, co-financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and a grant funding from the European Union Neighborhood Investment Facility (EU NIF). The infrastructure components of ENIP are located across all of Georgia and are to be implemented by 2026. Under ENIP, approximately 500 km of transmission lines and 5 substations will be constructed and extended. This will support Georgia to develop a stable and reliable transmission system, that will ensure network security, boost tourism, industrial and agricultural activities and business in general. Increased economic development will also generate more jobs and thus higher incomes for the people in Georgia.
The project envisages construction of Tskaltubo-Akhaltsikhe 500kV approximately 103km-long OHL and Akhaltsikhe-Tortum 400kV approximately 34km-long OHL connecting Georgia-Turkey power systems. As a result, the Georgian interconnection will be reinforced with the Turkish power system as well as with Europe. This project will create another important precondition for the use of Georgia’s rich hysdro power resources by facilitating its integration into the Georgian transmission network.
After completion of the project the Country’s power network capacity and reliability will be increased significantly, reserve network will be created for 500kV power line Enguri-Zestaponi-Akhaltsikhe and shutdowns and volume of undelivered electricity will be decreased, which on its part will facilitate cross-border trade.
The project will be implemented in full compliance with the international standards which involves all standards of security, health and ecology protection and shall be completed in 2025. Construction of new substations in Ozurgeti and Lajanuri and the expansion of Akhaltsikhe substation will start step by step and will be completed in 2023/2024.
