ArmInfo. The liberalization of the electricity market will lead to a reduction in the price of electricity. Director of the Fund for Renewable Energy and Energy Saving of Armenia Karen Asatryan stated this, presenting the plans for 2021 and the results of the Fund's activities in past years.
Asatryan recalled that in January 2021, the Strategic Program for the Development of the Energy Sector until 2040 was adopted. The program pays special attention to the creation of new capacities through the construction of new solar and wind power plants.
So, taking into account the republic's potential in this area, and the potential was calculated within the framework of a program launched in 2016 together with the World Bank, the strategy enshrined plans for the construction of solar photovoltaic stations up to 1,000 MW by 2030. The electricity accumulated through these stations, according to the director of the Fund, will make up about 15% of the electricity produced in the republic.
In addition to the construction of solar power plants, there are plans to develop wind energy - by 2040, wind power plants of system significance with a capacity of up to 500 MW will be built. The construction of helio and wind stations, Asatryan noted, will be carried out on the basis of a public-private partnership. Within the framework of the strategic document, Armenia will implement plans to liberalize the energy market. Such a concept as the purchase and sale of electricity will be introduced and each licensed "seller" of electricity will be able to make a public offer to a subscriber. Thus, as a result of the creation of a competitive environment, the tariff should be reduced in price, the expert noted.
The "Strategic Program for the Development of the Energy Sector until 2040" also provides for the development of the energy saving field. So, today the available technologies allow achieving energy savings of up to 30-40%. Each saved kW of electricity, as explained by the head of the Fund, is 2.2-fold cheaper than the cost of generating electricity itself.
Earlier, ArmInfo reported that according to studies, solar energy, which is an inexhaustible source of energy, may in the future take 50-60% of the country's energy balance. Meanwhile, the problem lies in accumulation stations, the absence of which can negate all the efforts of the government. In a conversation with the ArmInfo correspondent Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures of the Republic of Armenia Hakob Vardanyan noted that today there is an opportunity to increase the capacity of solar power plants to 400 MW. But for their effective functioning, especially when building large solar power plants of industrial importance, an accumulation station will be needed, since by the evening, when the possibilities of this type of generation are sharply reduced, there will be a need to replenish these volumes.
