Tbilisi: USAID organized Georgia’s Energy Future Program in Tbilisi, which was attended by the Vice-Prime Minister, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, Levan Davitashvili. The representatives of the Economy Ministry and USAID discussed the opportunities and challenges to the renewable energy investment in Georgia.
In his speech, the Minister of Economy reviewed the international trends in the field of renewable energy and spoke about the investment potential of Georgia and the necessity of using it correctly.
“Today’s conference on Georgia’s Energy Future Program also focuses on this issue – what investment potential and opportunities we have in renewable energy, the ways and forms to use them.” Georgia has the ability to generate not only from internal sources – hydroelectricity, wind, solar, biomass and various sources but also from various alternative, innovative energy directions.
In addition, we have a great potential for Georgia to become the so-called energy accumulation centre, where hydro-energy from different countries will gather, and we can be a trading platform. All of this, of course, requires the development of appropriate, necessary infrastructure and systems, on which the state is working very actively,” said the Minister of Economy.
As Levan Davitashvili emphasized, the Georgian government is also working intensively on energy politics and reforms that will ultimately be the basis of the country’s sustainable energy system. He thanked all the supporting organizations and states which are helping Georgia form this policy.
Additionally, Davitashvili, in the context of energy sector reforms and the important role of the state in this regard, also spoke about the opening of the electricity market in Georgia fromJuly 1st, which means trading on the open market under competitive conditions.
In addition, he said a new scheme to support renewable energies has been developed: power auctions and price difference contracts. According to the minister, the first such auction has already been successfully completed and has emerged 27 winners for the construction of hydro, wind and solar power plants.
