Setup Policy Paper
Khudoni Hydro Power Plant
Set up
Giorgi Sakhokia
Topic
In 28 April. 2011 Georgian government signed the agreement with “Trans Electrica
Limited, 'Trans Electrica Georgia" LTD “Energotrans” and LTD “Electricity System
Commercial Operator” (ESCO) about Khudoni Hydro Power Plant. This agreement
allowed “Trans electrica Georgia” to build 702 MW Hydro Power plant in “Svaneti
region” in Georgia.
Project
The Khudoni Hydro Power Plant Project is part of the Enguri River cascade system,
which currently comprises hydropower plants of Engury and Vardnili (in total 1520 MW).
The Khudoni Hydro Power Plant Project is on River Enguri and is about 35 Km upside
of operational Engury HPP (1320 MW). The Project envisages the construction of an
arch dam, with a height of 200.5 meters. Khudoni Hydro Power Plant dam would make
a reservoir with a volume of 365 million cubic meters on the 528 Hectares. Khudoni
HPP should have annual power capacity about 1.5 billion. KW/h
Purpose of the Project
Electricity in Georgia produced by hydropower plants or thermal power plants ( it burns
natural gas, which is not produced in Georgia and is imported from Azerbaijan).
Demand on electricity has raised significantly lately, and Georgia can’t provide enough
amount of electricity, especially in winter, when river levels are low, the Georgian
government has to import natural gas and produce electricity by thermal power plants
which results higher prices of electricity. In 2011 Georgian Government found solution
with Khudoni HPP project, which should be second biggest HPP in the Georgia, as well
as in South Caucus Region and would produce additional power during the year. This
Hydro Power Plant will ensure Energy security of Georgia and will promote a domestic
and regional development of the state, but there are a lot of controversial issues is
related to this project.
Position
I represent local Environmental non-governmental organization “Georgian Green
Heritage.” Our goal is to protect the environment, the biological and cultural heritage of
Georgia, Khudoni HPP project will negatively impact on those issues. We want to
establish environmental solutions and manage project implementation. Also, we want to
offer Georgian government some other alternatives, which doesn't have the same
adverse outcome. We want to focus on the following issues, and would also like to offer
other alternatives to the government of Georgia, which can be a substitute for this
project. We want to persuade the government to abandon the project considering a lot
of reasons:
Environmental impact
First of all, Khudoni HPP construction will have an impact on the environment.
Construction of the Hydro power plant and its water reservoir requires flooding 528
hectares, which contains unique villages and sub-alpine forests. This project will have
an impact on the environment of the West Georgia, will cause the destruction of subalpine
forest and wildlife habitats, also the loss of river species populations and
dramatically change the climate. Beside this, specialists talks about a lot of dangers,
which I will consider in the Policy Paper.
Social impact
The process of implementation of the Khudoni project started after the dissolution of
Soviet Union, but at that time, the project was blocked by NGOs. The main
explanations for that decision were that construction would contain extreme risks for
ecological reasons, and also requires the resettlement of a number of unique villages
(about 2000 people from 27 villages).In the case of project implementation, their
houses would be under the water, as well as churches, cemeteries, and historical
monuments.
Cultural heritage
The Khudoni HPP would be located in Zemo Svaneti, one of the most beautiful part of
Georgia, which is isolating from the other parts of Georgia and the people has
preserved the ancient traditions and culture. There are a lot of Historical museums and
cultural monuments, more than 200 Georgian type houses from ancient era end
represents the history of Georgia. The Zemo Svaneti region has been a UNESCO World
Heritage Site area since 1996.1
Alternatives
From the one side, the interest of the government to ensure energy security and
increase production of electricity is understandable. But on the other hand, there are
many alternative ways which should be taken into consideration, for example, Tobar
HPP and Khudon HPP 2. These Power plants can produce same amount of electricity
and don’t have same negative consequences. Those and other alternatives I want to
offer to the government of Georgia in my Policy Paper.
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/7091
Audience of Paper
The audience of the paper is Government of Georgia; Especially I want to direct my
Policy Paper to Ilia Eloshvili, Minister of Energy of Georgia.
I want to communicate with him and to the whole Minister of Energy of Georgia because
they are one of the biggest actors in decision-making process of the Khudoni HPP
project implementation. Former Minister of Energy of Georgia was signatory of the
document, which allowed to build Khudoni HPP.
Ilia Eloshvili is Minister of Energy of Georgia since 2016, He used to be Deputy of
Minister of Energy of Georgia (2012-2016) and was involved in this process, so he
already has a lot of information about this project. But considering that he is the new
minister and wants to make positive changes for the Energy of Georgia as well as for
the state, I would like to present my Policy Paper and to acquaint in more details about
the existing problems that are related to this project, as well as to offer supplementary
alternatives.