The obsession of hydropower may have obscured other green energy options for Georgia. For one thing, investment in hydro is not happening as fast as could have been expected a few years ago. But, much more importantly, the bulk of hydropower would be in any case generated in the summer, when Georgia does not need as much of it. The surplus electricity is supposed to be exported to Turkey. But why destroy pristine landscapes and interfere with fragile ecosystems for the sake of exporting electricity to Turkey? Has anybody ever tried to answer the question...
ISET Economist Blog
A blog about economics in the South Caucasus.
Apr
27
Nov
30
We may recall that the Lazika city project has been proposed by the Saakashvili administration to accelerate the process of urbanization. A new city was suggested as a means of absorbing surplus rural population and thus paving the way for land consolidation and greater productivity in agriculture. No country, it was claimed, was able to modernize itself while maintaining almost 50% in rural employment.
Yet, if we look at the global statistics, Georgia is reasonably urbanized. With 53.2% of urban dwellers, Georgia is ranked 107 in the world, slightly beh...
Oct
17
Several years ago the (now former) Georgian government started successful reforms in the electricity sector and was eagerly looking forward to future projects. The improvements made were evident. The rehabilitation of hydroelectric power plants (HPPs) and other structural reforms led to a gradual increase of hydro power generation and to the decrease of electricity imports and thermo power generation. From 2006 this helped Georgia to become a net exporter. By 2010 Georgia exported almost seven times more electricity (1524.3 GWh) than it imported (222.1 G...
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