ISET Community Hears about Pillars of Success to Implement Successful HPP Project
- Details
Looking down from the famous cross-path of the Georgian Military Highway, you will notice a beautiful little lake that was not there six years ago. The lake is a small reservoir that supplies power to the 8 MW Aragvi HPP. On May 19, the ISET community and guests from professional circles in energy sector heard the story behind this hydro power plant in a seminar entitled “Small Hydro power – what’s special about it and how to implement it?” delivered by Hanness Posch, a civil engineer and entrepreneur working on hydropower projects in Georgia.
Mr. Posch’s engagement with Georgia started soon after Austrian investors rebuilt the Gudauri Ski resort in 1986. Mr. Posch was invited as an engineer to prepare a hydropower project to ensure a stable power supply for the resort. In the meantime, while preparing the project on the Aragvi river, Gudauri investors sold their shares in the resort and Mr. Posch was left as the sole participant in the project without enough resources to implement it. After finding Georgian partners, a company was registered and long search for the necessary funding started. Years later in 2011, the Austro-Georgian company found the money and commenced construction of their first 8 MW Aragvi HPP project.
ECA-countries in transition to a 'New Normal'
- Details
On Wednesday, May 18 Hans Timmer, Chief Economist of Europe and Central Asia (ECA) at the World Bank, paid a visit to ISET. He delivered a presentation entitled “Economic Outlook for the South Caucasus”, transmitting idea that the countries of Europe and Central Asia (ECA), including Georgia, are transitioning to a situation - against the backdrop of a weakening global economy and volatility in international financial markets - which is called 'New Normal', and is characterized by the slow trend growth of global trade, low commodity prices, and less abundant availability of international liquidity.
Mr. Timmer thinks that for ECA-oil-exporting states it will be painful to adjust their economies to low commodity prices, but this adjustment is not avoidable and will be followed by declining household incomes, sharp real deprecations, falling asset prices, job losses in trade, construction and domestic services, and increased fragility in semi-dollarized financial sectors. Similar problems are arising in other countries which have strong economic relations with oil exporters through remittances and trade flows such as Russia and Georgia. Due to declined trade and reduced real remittances, most of the affected countries have seen their purchasing power drop more than was originally suggested by GDP numbers.
Our Partners
