Page 61 - GEORptMay21

main hydropower plant in May
Georgia, which also supplies the Russian-occupied region of Abkhazia, is to restart in early May following a refurbishment aimed at expanding its capacity, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has announced. As a result of the renovation of the Enguri HPP diversion tunnel, water losses will be reduced by 30% to 35%. That should mean an additional 100mn kWh of electricity generation per year.
The €42mn renovation of the HPP, the first such operation performed in more than 20 years, started in January.
A total of €7mn of the project cost will be met by the European Commission in the form of a grant, while the remainder will be paid with a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
Enguri HPP plays a vital role in securing Georgia’s country's energy independence and security. Some 40% of the country’s power demand is met by this plant.
All five generators at the plant were shut down on January 20 for necessary. Urgent work is partly focused on damaged sections of the drainage tunnel. Large volumes of water have been leaking from the sections.
In order to begin repairing the tunnel, it was necessary to entirely empty it. Abkhazia is receiving electricity from Russia to substitute for the power not presently available from the HPP.
9.1.13 Utilities sector news
Power use shows activity of Georgia’s cryptocurrency miners down significantly in 2020
Georgia's Minister of Economy Natia Turnava has told a parliamentary hearing that 2% of the electricity consumed in the country in 2020 was consumed by companies engaged in cryptocurrency mining.
However, the level of activity of the cryptocurrency miners as seen in electricity use contracted significantly to 232mn kWh last year from 786mn kWh in 2019. The economic entities officially registered to conduct cryptocurrency mining last year used 132mn kWh (1.08% of total consumption). The rest of the electricity use was attributed to unregistered bitcoin miners.
Several large data centres are registered in Georgia as "direct purchasers of electricity" for the purchase of relatively affordable electricity.
Among the cryptocurrency mining companies in 2020, BFDC Georgia (previously Bitfury) bought the most electricity. Official figures show that other large data centres, including blockchain owned by billionaire Igor Kolomoisky, as well as the companies Aiti Lab and Geo Services, did not actually purchase electricity on the direct market.
In addition to the large data centres, small mining companies are also involved in cryptocurrency production. They are not registered as direct consumers on the power market.
In 2019, the volume of electricity consumed by the large data centres was several times higher than in 2020. Miners registered as direct buyers purchased a total of 786mn kWh of electricity in that year.
The biggest of them was Bitfury, which bought 534mn kWh of electricity; Igor Kolomoisky's Blockfower (122mn kWh); Aiti Lab (73.5mn kWh) and Geo Services (55.8mn kWh). The total consumption of these four companies in 2019 amounted to 6.15% of electricity consumption in Georgia.
Including the consumption of the small miners, it turns out that in 2019 the total consumption of mining companies in Georgia was more than 7% of electricity consumption.
In addition to registered companies, individuals are also engaged in bitcoin mining. The activity is especially prevalent in Svaneti region, as the population living here does not pay for electricity. In conditions with "free electricity" a
61 GEORGIA Country Report May 2021 www.intellinews.com