Armenian Prime Minister and Renco Chief Executive Officer discussed  fate of project on construction of new power unit at the territory of  the Yerevan Thermal Power Plant

ArmInfo. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan received a delegation headed by Giovanni Rubini, Chief Executive Officer of the Italian company Renco.

As the press service of the Armenian government told ArmInfo, at the  meeting the sides touched upon the existing problems around the  implementation of the investment project for the construction of a  new thermal power plant on the territory of the Yerevan Thermal Power  Plant.

Pashinyan stressed that the RA government attaches importance to the  involvement of investments and the implementation of new projects,  but the executive power's task is not to assume such obligations that  will negatively affect the country's energy security and tariff  policy. The Prime Minister of Armenia offered the representatives of  the Italian company to hold intensive consultations with the  responsible governments of the Republic of Armenia in the near future  and expressed hope that in their results it will be possible to find  mutually beneficial solutions for the implementation of the project.

The Italian company Renco will invest about $ 250 million in the  construction of the second power unit of the Yerevan Thermal Power  Plant with combined steam and gas cycle (ECGCC) with a capacity of  250 mW. Completion of construction work is scheduled for 25 months.  The program will create about 900 temporary jobs, and from the time  of operation - 200 permanent and highly paid. The best effective  technologies will be used in the construction, and the efficiency  will be 53%, while this indicator of the Hrazdan power unit is equal  to 44%, Yerevan Thermal Power Plant - 49%. The state is obliged  within 20 years to purchase all the electricity produced by the unit  at a price of 6 US cents excluding VAT. At a meeting on March 29,  2017, the Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) of Armenia  approved the transaction for the sale of the Hrazdan TPP to the  company Tashir Capital CJSC. The company "Lormand Holdings Limited",  which is a 100% shareholder of the "Hrazdan Energy Organization" (the  owner of the Hrazdan Thermal Power Plant) applied to the PSRC with a  statement of intent to sell all 100% of the shares of the Tashir  Capital JSC. According to Vasil Khachatryan, General Director of the  Hrazdan Energy Organization, the Tashir Group plans to further  modernize the enterprise, re-equip and restart the station,  installing new equipment. The company "Liormand Holdings Limited"  acquired a 100% stake in "Hrazdan Energy Company (Hrazdan Thermal  Power Plant)" at the end of 2015 from Inter RAO, which was the full  owner of the company. OJSC "Hrazdan Energy Company" is one of the  five large generating companies in Armenia and plays the role of  balancing station in Armenia's energy system, producing electricity  only when a deficit in the domestic market occurs. -nu- The new power  unit being built at the Yerevan TPP will be designed to replace the  capacity of the third power unit of the Hrazdan TPP.