ArmInfo. Allegations that HPP make more water intake and produce more electricity are wrong. The chairman of the Union of Small Hydro Power Stations of Armenia Naira Nahapetyan said this on November 23 in an interview with journalists, referring to a criminal case initiated into the discovery of violations at 150 small hydro power plants.
"Each HPP has its own technical specifications, that is, when installing water stations take into account these characteristics, if the hydroelectric station has a capacity of 1 MW, it can not take water, say, equal to the capacity of 5 MW station. It is also impossible, as if in an ordinary glass try to pour a liter of water, extra, anyway, will pour out. That is, during the construction of identical hydropower plants, proportional water turbines are installed to provide the required amount of water", Nahapetyan said.
Referring to the need to establish water meters, the chairman of the Union of Small Hydroelectric Power Stations noted that over the course of 20 years, this area has been developing step by step. According to her, there is a list of the daily volume of water that is provided by hydroelectric power plants in the form of kilowatts. "Every month, all stations provide the Inspectorate for Conservation of Nature and Subsoil with the amount of water consumed. I never had a question off setting up water meters. I would like to emphasize that we do not use water in electricity production, that is, we are not water consumers, we only use waterpower. And in what quantity we take it from the riverbed, in such a way we return it to the river, "said Nahapetyan, expressing the conviction that this issue will find its solution in a short time.
According to her, the owners of small hydroelectric power stations are surprised by the accusations that they face. Nahapetyan agreed that, of course, there are unscrupulous business entities, whose activities, to a greater extent, harm the environment, leads to the drying up of rivers. However, according to her, it is impossible, because of such unscrupulous subjects, to put the whole sector at risk.
She expressed the hope that in the coming days they will meet with the acting. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will discuss these issues. "We are not against set up water meters, not one hydroelectric station has any problems with their installation. We are convinced that there can be no criminal prosecution. Those water meters that the government insists on are networked and should have an online connection to the Internet. However, the question that many hydropower plants are located in places where there is no connection at all. Today we are considering where to set up water meters to provide an Internet connection, "said Nahapetyan, adding that she owns two hydroelectric power plants and that checks were also carried out on them, and no violations were recorded..
To note, the Prosecutor General's Office of Armenia opened criminal cases on the facts of abuse in the field of operation of small hydropower plants. As a result of inspections by a working group specially set up by the RA Prime Minister's decision, out of 184 small hydropower plants, 143 lacked water meters, in some cases the permissible discharge and use rates of water were repeatedly exceeded, while other hydropower stations lacked fish protection devices in river estuaries. It was also found out that a number of former employees of the Ministry of Nature Protection, abusing their official duties, did not write out to the companies operating HPPs the corresponding fines in the amount of 29 million drams.