Tuesday, February 13 2018 17:04

ArmInfo. In the coming  weeks, Armenia will be visited by a delegation from Iran, with which  the project of construction of the Meghri hydroelectric power station  on the border of the Araks River will be discussed. On February 13,  Deputy Minister of Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources Hayk  Harutyunyan stated at the press conference in Yerevan, answering the  question of ArmInfo.

According to him, not only the structure of the future HPP will be  discussed, but also the scheme for financing the project. "The  Armenian side sets a task to build this station, it is a fairly large  investment program, which involves new participants," the deputy  minister stressed, expressing hope for positive results already this  year. He stressed that it was originally planned to build a 130 MW  hydroelectric power plant with a production capacity of 800 million  kW/h of electricity. But over the past 10 years, there have been  changes both in the resources of the waters of the Araks River and in  technologies. "Therefore, regular changes in numbers and volumes are  not ruled out," Hayk Harutyunyan stated.

The Meghri hydropower plant was previously considered the most  promising joint Armenian-Iranian project. Although the parties have  come to the final stage of the project and announced the start of  construction in November 2012, the work has not been started yet  because of the limitations of Tehran because of the sanctions. If the  project is completed, the station will become the largest in the  Transcaucasus. According to the project, the construction of a $ 323  million facility will be financed by the Iranian investment company.  Armenia will pay for its part of the project with electricity  produced at the hydroelectric station itself, and after 15 years the  hydroelectric power station will be transferred to the Armenian side.  While the Armenian-Iranian economic relations can not move from the  deadlock, after the lifting of sanctions, economic ties between  Tehran and Baku sharply intensified. The Iranian parliament approved  a bill on the joint construction of two hydroelectric power stations  with Azerbaijan. The bill allows construction of power plants near  the Araks River in the border area, in the Iranian city of Marazad  and the Azerbaijani city of Ordubad. The document provides for  cooperation in the construction of power stations at the dams of  Khoda Afarin and Gyz Galasy, on the Araks River, as well as the  construction of the Ordubad Power Station on the Azerbaijani side and  the power plant in Marazada on the Iranian side. The ArmInfo agency  reported that if the project is implemented, the water volumes for  the Meghri hydropower plant in Armenia may simply not be enough.  Earlier, adviser to the Minister of Energy Infrastructures and  Natural Resources of Armenia Areg Galstyan stated that due to  environmental problems related to the reduction of water volumes in  the Araks River, as well as the increase of water intakes from Turkey  in the northern part of Armenia, it was necessary to revise this  project in the direction of power reduction. If initially it was  planned to build two stations (Meghri - Armenia, Karachilar - Iran)  for 130 MW each and a total power generation of about 850 million kW  per year, now the option is considered with a capacity of 100 MW. In  this regard, the diameter of the tunnel has been changed, along which  water will flow between the two hydroelectric power stations.