ArmInfo.The emergence and strengthening of the Azerbaijani state-owned company Azerenergy on the Iranian electricity market is fraught with certain risks for Armenia. The President of the Institute for Energy Security, Doctor of Political Sciences Vahe Davtyan expressed a similar opinion to ArmInfo.
"Let's start with the fact that Iran traditionally acts and will act as a strategic direction for the export of electricity from Armenia. In this light, the appearance of Azerenergy there, of course, will create serious competition with the electricity imported from Armenia, "he noted.
According to the expert, Azerbaijani activity has become noticeable in the Iranian electricity market, starting with the signing in the fall of 2018 of an agreement to increase the supply of electricity from Azerbaijan to Iran. Davtyan considers this very interesting and noteworthy, given that in the post-Soviet period Azerbaijan was never considered as a country exporting electricity.
Moreover, according to his estimates, Azerbaijan did not even have a stable internal electric power system. The evidence of this was the large-scale accident in the summer of 2018. Nevertheless, Baku perceived the situation as a challenge, announcing its intention to form new electric power capacities of 1000 MW in the country in the coming years. Davtyan noted that progress and certain steps in this direction are indeed being taken. The expert considers Turkmenistan to be another challenge for Armenia in the Iranian market. According to his estimates, this country was able to ensure a fairly low cost of electricity produced, which allows maintaining the competitiveness of exported volumes. In this light, Davtyan predicts very tough competition for Armenia with Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan in the near future.
At the same time, Davtyan considers the prospect of competition with Azerbaijan through a communication prism. In his words, although at a rather slow pace, the work on the construction of the third high-voltage power transmission line Iran-Armenia is moving forward. This project, according to his estimates, goes beyond the bilateral format and is part of the North-South electricity corridor. The latter is intended to synchronize the power systems of Iran, Armenia, Georgia and Russia.
"And in this situation, we are already observing Baku's attempts to propose the formation of an alternative corridor along its territory. Moreover, there is already a project for the creation of an Iran-Azerbaijan- Russia electricity corridor. And if it is implemented, the Armenian corridor may well lose the geopolitical significance initially attributed to it, "the expert concluded.