Ministry of Energy: Until 2020 Armenia will decrease the use of primary power for 37%

ArmInfo. Until 2020 Armenia  will decrease the consumption of the primary energy for 37%. This is  stated by the press office of the Ministry of Energy Infrastructures  and  Natural Resources of Armenia referring to the information of  Vahagn Atayan, the Energy Saving and Technical Standards   Department  Head. 

According to him, tha matter is the energy saving at about 40 bln  kW/hour, Folowing Atayan, the price for public buildings and SME-s   is formed in  the limits of 1 - 4 cents per 1 kW/hour, while the  energy supplied by the energy sector of Armenia is equal to 7  american cents. That means that the energy efficiency improvement is  more preferable option for Armenia than establishment of new power  generation units. 

Following Atayan, currently  Armenia imports about 67% energy   products, which makes the energy sector of the Republic very  vulnerable. The energy efficiency promotion will  give an option for  primary power, and will lead to the decrease of imported resources  volumes. 

Earlier in his  interview to ArmInfo  Minister  Hayk Harutyunyan  stated that  within the framework of national project on energy  saving the first  stage results were successful - the economy  indications in the aspect  of energy savings grew twice to that  expected, and the initial goal  was to decrease for 3,3 %. Based on  this results two projects were  developed - until 2018 and 2020  respectively. According to Deputy Minister, the project showed that  the main guarantee for the  efficient policy in this field is the  availability of  appropriate  financial tool. As Harutyunyan  clarified, that might be seen on  example of a simple home appliance  - for instance, if one buys a  freezer  having modern features, he  could save up to 70-80% of energy.  

Energocredit is a program of the European Bank for Reconstruction and   Development (EBRD) in the Caucasus region. Together with   participating local financial institutions, Energocredit finances   energy efficient and renewable energy projects of businesses and   individuals.  To note, EBRD (European Bank of Reconstruction and   Development) in 2007 Launched an Energo credit program for Caucasus   region.  

The Energocredit loan package offers additional benefits as a cash   back payment and free technical expert advice. The European Union   Neighborhood Investment Facility rewards the environmentally friendly  investments with 10% or 15% cash back of the loan amount, the expert   advice is provide by the Austrian Ministry of Finance.  The financing   for corporate loans is carried out with the help of partner banks and  financing institutions in Armenia, such as HSBC Armenia, Ameriabank,   ACBA Credit Agricole Bank, ACBA Leasing, Inecobank, SEF International   and ArmSwissBank.

Energocredit provides also residential loans to individuals to do   energy efficient housing renovation and to purchase energy saving   equipment for cutting energy costs of heating, air conditioning and   electricity use.  This investment helps the households to reduce   energy consumption to save both money and the environment.