Saturday, May 26 2018 15:04

ArmInfo. Roman Melikyan, executive director of the NGO "Association of Renewable Energy Sources in Armenia", presented the results of his research in the activities of small hydropower stations and efficient use of water resources in the Ministry of Nature Protection.

According to the press service of the Ministry of Water protection, during the meeting the parties discussed issues related to the law in the sphere of management of water resources, gaps in the sphere of regulating water use.

According to the opinion of the experts, the introduction of new small hydropower plants in operation will negatively affect the water resources of Armenia. So an ecologist, a specialist in water resources, Ph.D.  Knarik Hovhannisyan believes that in reality HPPs are the most environmentally safe energy sources, since only thermal pollution occurs. However, according to the ecologist, violation of the rules for the installation and operation of small hydropower plants leads to harmful consequences, down to the depletion of water resources. At the same time, Hovhannisyan stated the need to develop a methodology for operating hydroelectric power stations and expressed the hope that this would at least somehow improve the situation in this area.

As ArmInfo reported earlier, in 2018 7 new small hydroelectric power stations with a total installed capacity of 21 MW will be built in Armenia. As of the end of January this year, 184 small hydropower stations operate in Armenia with a total installed capacity of 354 MW. The regulator granted licenses for the construction of 36 other small hydropower facilities. The share of small hydro power plants in the total electricity produced in Armenia in 2017 increased by 13% compared to 2016.  Studies have shown that 99% of small hydropower stations operating in Armenia are built on attracted credit financing. At one time, international structures provided relatively cheap resources, and Armenian entrepreneurs built more than half of small hydroelectric power stations on the basis of obsolete and already used equipment to reduce the cost of the estimate. In addition, the pipes at the hydroelectric power station are obsolete, and they are out of date, and their quality today leaves much to be desired, as a result of which the volume of water abstraction exceeds by 30% the volume of water actually delivered to the turbines. The main equipment of the HPP, although it is used only for 5-10 years, is morally obsolete and unusable for functioning. The process of introduction of new technical regulations for small HPPs, which will make it possible to improve the conditions of their operation and ensure sustainable development.