ArmInfo. A meeting of the steering committee of the Caucasus Transmission Network project was held at the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure of Armenia. During the meeting, participants discussed the progress of the project, planned activities, and future funding for the project.
The meeting was chaired by Narek Apitonyan, Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure of Armenia. The meeting was co-chaired by Frank Hess, Head of Cooperation at the EU Delegation to Armenia, and Katrin Buder-Pelz, Head of Development Cooperation at the German Embassy in Armenia.
The meeting was also attended by Deputy Finance Minister Edgar Mkrtchyan, Acting CEO of High Voltage Electric Networks CJSC Hayk Hayrapetyan, Veronica Garcia del Arco, Director for Eastern Europe, Caucasus, and Central Asia at KfW, Jens Hagen, Regional Director for KfW, Zara Chatinyan, representative of the KfW Armenia Office, Stella Renita, EBRD Representative for the South Caucasus, and other partners.
Recall, last week, the Armenian government approved a proposal to sign a grant agreement with the KfW Bank for Reconstruction and Development for the Caucasus Transmission Network Phase II project and a loan agreement for the EU's Caucasus Transmission Network Phase IV program. The documents envisage the attraction of an additional 120 million euros in loan funds and 15 million euros in grant resources. The project aims to connect the Armenian and Georgian power systems using a 500/400/220 kV high-voltage direct current (HVDC) converter station (with a final capacity of 1,050 MW), which will be located near the Georgian border in Ayrum, Armenia. The connection on the Georgian side will be via a 500 kV overhead power line from the Marneuli substation, and on the Armenian side, via a 400 kV overhead power line from the 400/220 kV substation in Ddmashen. It is planned to increase the power exchange capacity between Armenia and Georgia from the current 200 MW to 350 MW in the first stage, and subsequently, depending on regional market demand, to 1,050 MW.
