RA government to return to initial route of laying Armenia-Georgia  power line with construction of electrical substation near Ddmashen  village 

ArmInfo.The Armenian government has decided to return to the initial route of laying the Armenia-Georgia power line with the construction of an electrical substation near the village of Ddmashen. Previously, the issue of making changes to the project and, instead of the Ddmashen substation, to build a similar station at the Hrazdan Thermal Power Plant with the connection of the American General Electric and Chinese companies was discussed.

However, as sources close to the  project told ArmInfo, today the Cabinet of Ministers, by its internal  decision, decided to return to the initial version of the project,  that is, to build a power line in Ayrum from the Ddmashen substation.

Based on today's decision of the RA government, the negotiations that  took place with the German KfW bank yesterday ended successfully. The  bank's delegation is in Armenia these days.

Earlier, the Armenian authorities reported a failed tender to select  a contractor for the construction project of this substation.  According to the Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and  Infrastructure of the Republic of Armenia Hakob Vardanyan, two  companies - Siemens and ABB, participating in two lots in the  pre-qualification tender, did not submit financial proposals for the  construction of both the substation itself and the DC insert. The  German bank KfW, which financed the project, insisted on conducting  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 background 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 already intended to involve  Chinese companies and the American General Electric concern in the  construction, negotiations with which are not yet ongoing, since it  was necessary to make changes to the project, and instead of the  substation in Ddmashen, build a similar substation at the Hrazdan  Thermal Power Plant.

The project for the construction of the North-South energy corridor,  designed to unite the electric power systems of Iran, Armenia,  Georgia and Russia, has encountered a number of problems. Initially,  the construction projects of 400/500 kilovolt power lines  Iran-Armenia and Armenia-Georgia were planned to be completed by the  end of 2019. Meanwhile, as of today, the work on the Iran-Armenia  power line has been completed by 20-25%, and the construction of the  Armenia-Georgia power line has not yet begun.  According to the  project, it is planned to build a 400 kV Iran-Armenia and 500 kV  Armenia-Georgia power line. For these purposes, it is planned to  build 2 "Ayrum" and "Ddmashen" electrical substations on the Georgian  border. According to the FICHTNER company the preliminary cost of the  Armenia-Georgia power transmission line construction program is 326.9  million euros, 10% of which should be part of the Georgian  contribution. For these purposes, three loan agreements were signed  in 2014-2015. In particular, the German KfW bank allocated 168  million euros in the form of a loan, and another 10 million euros  will be provided by the European Investment Bank. It is expected to  receive another 10 million euros in grant from the European  Commission.

As for the Iran-Armenia high-voltage power line, this project is  financed by the Iranian side, the total cost of the program is $107  million. However, taking into account the new sanctions imposed by  the United States against Iran, there is concern about a reduction in  the volume of this investment program.