The brother of former Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania, Gogla Zhvania, has expressed that Georgia can generate electricity with the gas it receives free of charge through transit via the South Caucasus Pipeline. Gogola Zhvania tried to strengthen the arguments against large HPPs and Namakhvani HPP.
"They are trying to assure us that without large hydropower plants, the Georgian energy and, consequently, the economy will not have a future. They are trying to assure us that Georgia has no other cheap and reliable way to get electricity. But since the end of last year, Europe has started importing Azerbaijani gas through Georgia, which means that from this year, we will have 800 million cubic meters of gas completely free of charge, which is enough to generate 4 billion kilowatt electricity. Namokhvani can generate only 1.5 billion kilowatts. It is noteworthy that the construction of a large gas-fired power plant will cost a total of 400 million dollars; the construction of Namokhvani will cost almost two times more and will generate 2.5 times less energy per year. The amount of gas spent in two years will increase even more; therefore, the amount of free gas we own will increase and exceed 1.1 billion cubic meters per year, and after another growth of 1.5 billion cubic meters in 2026. This means that our country does not need giant hydropower plants," Zhvania says and adds that if the Georgian economy reaches the level of Germany, our free gas resource (which provides basic energy and energy system stability) in addition to the production of existing hydropower plants, additional wind, and solar energy will fully meet the needs of our country.
"It is probably clear to everyone that the cost of electricity generated from free gas will be much cheaper than that generated by giant hydropower plants. At the same time, the Namokhvani tariff, as well as the Neskra tariff, already exceeds the price we pay for electricity today. The inclusion of these hydropower plants in the power system will inevitably lead to higher electricity prices for the population. In addition to everything, the so-called Foreign investment will increase the already dangerously high $ 20 billion foreign debt by another $ 750 million. Only this one project, if implemented, will lead to the outflow of billions of dollars from our country. After all, it is completely incomprehensible why the state allocates guaranteed income to a foreign company?! Why should you let someone take billions of dollars when you can easily transfer all this money to the state budget and solve a lot of necessary issues," said Gogola Zhvania.
The Southern Gas Corridor consists of three pipelines - the South Caucasus Pipeline Expansion (SCPX), the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP), and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP). It supplies natural gas from the Shah Deniz field in Azerbaijan to Turkey and the European Union via Georgia, Turkey, Greece, and Albania. It will serve 7 EU countries and ten major buyers from Turkey.
