Monday, March 4 2019 19:04

ArmInfo. Construction on the  new thermal block adjacent to the Yerevan Thermal Power Plant with a  combined steam-gas cycle will begin in 15 days.  This was stated on  March 4 at a press conference in Yerevan by the acting. Minister of  Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources of the Republic of  Armenia Garegin Baghramyan.  According to him, today, on March 4, a  direct agreement was signed on financing the project, which  predetermined the sources of financing.The program on a temporary  basis will involve 1,100 people, on an ongoing basis - 230.  Construction work will last 24-25months. By the same date, a new  400-kilovolt transmission line Iran-Armenia will be put into  operation, according to which it will be possible to export  electricity from the station. 

The unit will become cost-effective, because as a result of the  negotiations that have lasted for the last three months, it was  possible to reduce the cost from guaranteed electricity purchased  from the unit to 5.7 cents per 1 kWh instead of the previously  approved 6.02 cents. Thus, it will be possible to save about $ 6.4  million annually. The cost of electricity produced on the unit will  be 27 drams per 1 kWh. instead of 31.1 drams from other heat  generation facilities. As a result, in general, the power system will  be able to reduce the tariff by an average of 1.4 drams per 1 kWh of  electricity. At the same time, there will be no additional pressure  on the final tariff for consumers.In turn, the chief executive  officer of the Italian company Renko, Giovanni Roubini, stressed that  the agreement signed today provides for the involvement of large  international investors in a project worth $ 250 million. In  particular, two structures of the World Bank - the International  Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee  Agency (MIGA) prepared an unprecedented financial package worth $ 202  million.

Funds in the amount of $ 42 million in a loan will be raised from  IFC, and $ 121 million - from the project participants themselves -  the company Renko, Siemens and the Italian state fund Simest, as well  as the Asian Development Bank, the OPEC International Fund and the  German Society for Investment and Development (DEG). The project  contractor will be the Renko company. Giovanni Roubini thanked the  Armenian authorities for their active cooperation and assistance in  the implementation of the program. He also stressed that the  negotiations, which lasted 3 years, were also attended by interested  parties, represented by Gazprom Armenia and Veolia Jur.According to  IFC Director for the South Caucasus Region, Jan Van Bilsen, the  agreement signed today will be a signal to other investors.According  to him, the implementation of the project fits into the logic of the  program of the government of the country to create equal conditions  for all for doing business, reduce poverty, create new jobs and  ensure high growth rates.