ArmInfo. Avanesov. Armenia is being squeezed out of the North- South megaproject, giving way to Azerbaijan, Doctor of Political Sciences, Professor of the Russian- Armenian University, President of the Institute of Energy Security (Armenia) Vahe Davtyan in his article.
According to him, the strategic collapse in Armenia is quite clearly expressed in the energy system, this time in the direction of Georgia. "It recently became known that the RA government has once again postponed the construction of the Armenia-Georgia power transmission line and two substations serving it. The company participating in the competition, Siemens, did not submit a financial proposal, citing excessive employment in other markets. The second participant declared bankruptcy. In fact, ", we are dealing with a situation where international business simply avoids conducting any long-term activities in Armenia, given the existing security risks and the high degree of unpredictability," the expert stated.
He pointed out that it is obvious that the latest delay in the construction of the Armenia-Georgia power transmission line and the lack of interest in it from international business are also directly related to the "enclave policy" being implemented by Yerevan. "Given that in the event of the transfer of enclaves, the strategic communication architecture of Armenia will be radically changed, and, in fact, will be under threat, the construction of a new interstate power transmission line cannot be started without at least taking into account new realities. International business does not exclude that at some point it the logistics of the power line will also have to be coordinated with Baku. The Georgia-Armenia line was supposed to be put into operation as early as 2019 as part of the North-South energy corridor. Moreover, the 3rd Iran-Armenia power transmission line, which is part of the same corridor. As a result, Armenia is being forced out of the North-South megaproject, giving way to Azerbaijan," Davtyan stated.
On March 11, in the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure of the Republic of Armenia Hakob Vardanyan announced that the competition for the construction of the Armenia-Georgia power transmission line did not take place due to the lack of applications for the construction of an electrical substation near the settlement of Ddmashen. According to him, two companies - Siemens and ABB, participating in two lots in the prequalification tender, did not submit financial proposals for the construction of both the substation itself and the DC insert. Currently, negotiations are underway on this project with the German bank KfW, which insists on holding direct negotiations with specialized companies. The bank previously considered it necessary for exclusively European companies to participate in the tender as a condition for providing a loan. Against the backdrop of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and the emergence of electricity shortages, European countries began to pay more attention to the construction of renewable generation facilities, mainly wind power plants, in which European companies participating in the tender were also involved, which announced their workload until 2028. The Armenian side intends to involve Chinese companies and the American concern General Electric in the construction, negotiations with which are not yet ongoing, since it is necessary to make changes to the project, and instead of the substation in Ddmashen, build a similar substation at the Hrazdan Thermal Power Plant. Negotiations are currently underway on this issue with KfW, the results of which will become known within the next month.
