ArmInfo. Construction on the new thermal block adjacent to the Yerevan Thermal Power Plant with a combined steam-gas cycle will begin in 15 days. This was stated on March 4 at a press conference in Yerevan by the acting. Minister of Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources of the Republic of Armenia Garegin Baghramyan. According to him, today, on March 4, a direct agreement was signed on financing the project, which predetermined the sources of financing.The program on a temporary basis will involve 1,100 people, on an ongoing basis - 230. Construction work will last 24-25months. By the same date, a new 400-kilovolt transmission line Iran-Armenia will be put into operation, according to which it will be possible to export electricity from the station.
The unit will become cost-effective, because as a result of the negotiations that have lasted for the last three months, it was possible to reduce the cost from guaranteed electricity purchased from the unit to 5.7 cents per 1 kWh instead of the previously approved 6.02 cents. Thus, it will be possible to save about $ 6.4 million annually. The cost of electricity produced on the unit will be 27 drams per 1 kWh. instead of 31.1 drams from other heat generation facilities. As a result, in general, the power system will be able to reduce the tariff by an average of 1.4 drams per 1 kWh of electricity. At the same time, there will be no additional pressure on the final tariff for consumers.In turn, the chief executive officer of the Italian company Renko, Giovanni Roubini, stressed that the agreement signed today provides for the involvement of large international investors in a project worth $ 250 million. In particular, two structures of the World Bank - the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) prepared an unprecedented financial package worth $ 202 million.
Funds in the amount of $ 42 million in a loan will be raised from IFC, and $ 121 million - from the project participants themselves - the company Renko, Siemens and the Italian state fund Simest, as well as the Asian Development Bank, the OPEC International Fund and the German Society for Investment and Development (DEG). The project contractor will be the Renko company. Giovanni Roubini thanked the Armenian authorities for their active cooperation and assistance in the implementation of the program. He also stressed that the negotiations, which lasted 3 years, were also attended by interested parties, represented by Gazprom Armenia and Veolia Jur.According to IFC Director for the South Caucasus Region, Jan Van Bilsen, the agreement signed today will be a signal to other investors.According to him, the implementation of the project fits into the logic of the program of the government of the country to create equal conditions for all for doing business, reduce poverty, create new jobs and ensure high growth rates.