Due to Georgia’s favorable geographic location, this country is enriched with large sources of energy such as oil and gas, wind, solar, geothermal and coal. On the other hand, the steady growth of energy consumption in Georgia and the existence of anti-monopoly laws and the rule of free market laws in Georgia have led foreign companies to become more interested in energy production and transmission in Georgia, especially in Tbilisi.
Data released by the National Statistics Office of Georgia shows that from 2013 to the first quarter of 2019, the largest amount of foreign investment in the energy sector came from the Czech Republic, followed by the Netherlands, Luxembourg, the Republic of Korea and other international organizations and institutions. It is noteworthy that the amount of foreign direct investment in Georgia has totaled $ 1265.2 million since 2013. According to a report by the Georgian Ministry of Economy, more than $ 201 million has been invested in Georgia’s energy-related construction sector in 2019-2018 and 28 Memorandum of Understanding has been signed.
Why Invest in Georgia’s Energy Sector?
• Growing domestic demand
• Free market and market without government supervision
• Advanced network infrastructures
• Unique export opportunities
Investing in Energy Sector in Georgia
The production and transmission of electricity, gas and clean energy in this country can be very profitable. The only problem with investing in this sector is that generating clean energy through wind and solar in the country requires a high investment. Easy and inexpensive access to water and water sources is another benefit of being in the industry. The cost of using a variety of energy such as electricity and gas is also low and affordable in Georgia.
Energy Resources in Georgia
•Oil and Gas
Due to its geographical location, Georgia has huge oil and gas resources that have been exploited by only a small percentage of these resources. Many of these oil and gas wells have been discovered during drilling, but they are still intact without testing. For this reason, Georgia has to supply its own regional gas supplies from Azerbaijan and Russia. Georgia is also deciding to receive gas from the Islamic Republic of Iran. During the geological exploration of western companies in the north, center and east of the country as well as in the rural area, larger sources of oil and gas have been discovered.
There are about 15 oil fields discovered in Georgia, extracting about 898 barrels of oil and 44.9 million cubic meters of gas annually. Generally due to Georgia being in a convenient geographic area, it has good advantages in terms of crossing three important oil and gas pipelines, making it easy to access the Black Sea ports quickly and easily. Three oil companies; Nino Tseminda, Laris and Georgian State Oil Company are operating in the area.Moody’s natural gas at Georgian gas supplies meets almost every industry and energy, agriculture and all cities and towns needs. Georgia’s natural gas production was estimated at 5 million cubic meters in year 2005. The country’s export and import of gas is estimated at 1.5 billion cubic meters.
•Electricity
Georgia has a prominent position in the field of hydropower generation among the CIS and European countries including France, Italy, Spain, Austria, Greece, Portugal and Serbia. It can even be said that the country is ahead of many European countries in terms of hydropower generation. The abundance of water and wind in this country has enabled Georgia to use the most of these natural resources for electricity generation and to outperform other nations, on the other hand, its annual electricity requirement averages about 12 billion kWh annually. So the country is completely self-sufficient for to generate electricity and all of this is produced in its own territory.
Georgia, due to the exploitation of wind power plants in the north and the existence of dams such as the Ingori Dam, which is the largest dam in the Georgia and the third largest dam in the world, annually generates a large amount of electricity and exports additional electricity to surrounding countries such as Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey. New hydroelectric power plants are also under construction.
In addition, the country is building new hydroelectric power plants to increase its power generation capacity; among these Namakhani with the capacity of 1 MW, Janiti 2 MW, Khadori 2 MW and Kakhty 9.3 MW power plants after completion of construction will enter the country’s electricity production cycle.
•coal
Georgia is one of the first countries in coal production due to Georgia’s use of numerous coal sources. The most important of these are the Takhvarcheli Mine with 250 million tons of coal reserves, and the Taqwali Mine with 280 million tons. It should be noted that coal production in Georgia was 500 tons in the year 2003.
• Solar energy opportunities
Given the geographical location of the country, Georgia has significant capacity in the solar energy sector. In many regions of Georgia, there is 250 to 280 days or 1900-2200 hours of solar radiation per year. The average daily radiation is 2.4 kWh per one square meter. The eastern part of the country enjoys more sunlight. Using Georgian solar energy, it is possible to get warm water from 40 to 500 degrees. Solar energy can be used in mountainous and impassable areas, small villages, military bases, etc.
Georgia State Electricity Company (GSE-Georgian state electrosystem) is the main electricity distributor. The company sends the electricity generated to energy distribution companies to customers. Private electricity distributors of Georgia are: Tascii (Tbilisi and its surroundings), Kakhetis Energo Distibutskia (Kakheti and East Tbilisi), Energo Peru Georgia (other regions of Georgia).
The Georgian market requires more than 10,000 million kWh. Georgia’s electricity exports amounted to 545 million kWh in year 2014. Georgia is connected to four neighboring countries via high-pressure lines, which make it possible to transmit electricity between them.
