Armenia to shift repair and refueling period of nuclear power plant
According to him, the shift will allow Armenia to use the cheaper electricity produced by Georgian small hydropower plants through a swap operation. He added that that will allow Armenia not to buy more expensive electricity generated by Armenian thermal power plants.
He said after the halt of the nuclear power plant for the planned maintenance in 2014 the national electricity distributing network had to buy the more expensive electricity produced by thermal plants , which ultimately raised the prices for households causing a strong popular discontent.
Areg Glastyan said also Armenia’s electricity producing capacities exceed domestic consumption needs, but not all local power plants can compete, for example, with Georgian hydropower plants, especially in spring, when energy production cost there is significantly down.
"We will be able to make seasonal electricity swaps getting cheap power from Georgia and providing them with electricity in winter produced by our thermal power plants," said Galstyan.
The Armenian Nuclear Power Plant is located some 30 kilometers west of Yerevan. It was built in the 1970s but was closed following a devastating earthquake in 1988. One of its two VVER 440-V230 light-water reactors was reactivated in 1995.
Armenian authorities said they will build a new nuclear power plant to replace the aging facility. The new plant is supposed to operate at twice the capacity of the Soviet-constructed facility. The plant currently generates some 35 percent of Armenia's electricity.
In March 2014, Armenian government decided to extend the plant’s service life because of delay in building a new unit. The service life extension has become possible thanks to Russia’s financial resources. The country will provide $270 million to Armenia as loan and $30 million in grants. --0----