Electricity power purchase agreements (PPAs) have been eliminated. The government made changes to Decree 214, regulating the expression of interest process for HPP projects on the Ministry of Energy’s list. Currently, the list of potential power plants includes 98 small and medium HPPs with total approximate installed capacity of 1.5 GW. According to the change, listed HPPs will no longer receive guaranteed PPAs from ESCO. In addition, the minimum pre-construction bank guarantee will increase from US$ 5,000 to US$ 15,000. The winner selection criterion (if several candidates bid for the same project) will be the amount of the bank guarantee the investor submits. Previously, the project was awarded to the bidder with the lowest PPA tariff in their proposal. The change will not affect MoUs that have already been signed. The Ministry of Economy did note that strategically important HPPs, such as those with seasonal regulations, might still receive guaranteed tariffs, as an exception, subject to detailed fiscal risk evaluation by the Ministry of Finance.
Telasi and Energo-Pro are going to invest GEL 85.6mn and GEL 343.5mn, respectively, in grid rehabilitation over 2018-2022. That plan includes the addition of new subscribers, rehabilitation of amortized transmission lines, construction of new substations, increase in transmission capacities, etc. Users currently connected to the 35-110kV transmission grid will be obligated to register as direct consumers in May 2018. Subsequently, they will no longer be subscribers of Telasi or Energo-Pro and will purchase electricity directly from suppliers at prices negotiated with the suppliers on a monthly basis. Direct consumers will pay all service fees to the respective service providers (2.393 tetri/kWh) and the guaranteed capacity fee to ESCO. This change will roughly double direct consumption.
Electricity consumption is expected to increase by 7.1% in 2018. According to the electricity (capacity) forecast of 2018, approved by the Ministry of Economy, the growth in consumption will be met by higher import (+30.8% y/y) and hydro generation (+7.3% y/y). Import sources will be determined during the year according to available commercial contracts. Thermal generation is expected to decrease 4.5% y/y in 2018. According to the forecast, only three small HPPs, with expected generation of 8.9GWh, will be added to the supply side in 2018. HPPs that were commissioned in 2017 will be the main source of the increase in hydro generation. Export of electricity is also expected to increase (+17.5% y/y). Export companies and directions will be determined through the auctions held by GSE during the year.
Domestic consumption increased 7.7% y/y in 2017 and reached 11.9TWh. Consumption by distribution companies increased 7.1% y/y and accounted for 71.1% of domestic consumption. Telasi subscriber usage (+5.2% y/y) accounted for a third of distributor demand, while Energo-Pro Georgia and former Kakheti Energy Distribution consumption (+8.1% y/y) accounted for the rest. Electricity usage of eligible consumers increased 18.1% y/y, despite the fact that two companies (Rustavi Steel Corporation and Georgian Railway) gave up this status in 2017. Consumption of the Abkhazian region increased 3.9% y/y and accounted for 16.9% of domestic consumption. Exports increased 22.7% y/y and reached 0.7 TWh in 2017. Electricity transit through Georgia declined considerably (-70.1%y/y) to 254.0GWh, of which 80.7% went from Azerbaijan to Turkey, 16.6% from Russia to Armenia, and the rest – from Russia to Turkey.
Growth in demand was met by electricity imports from Azerbaijan (61.3%), Russia (30.2%), and Armenia (8.5%). Electricity import in 2017 increased 3.1 times y/y from the low base in 2016 (-31.5% y/y) to 1.5 TWh, or 11.5% of total electricity supplied to the grid. The reasons behind the dramatic increase were consumption growth in 2017 and lower hydro generation in the winter (-7.5% y/y), mainly due to Enguri’s maintenance works. Electricity import was chosen over additional generation by certain TPPs due to the flexibility of import, technical constraints, the insignificant difference in prices, and the necessity to have some thermal capacity reserved for system security. Total supply of electricity, comprised of domestic generation (11.5TWh) and import (1.5TWh), reached 13.0TWh (+8.1% y/y) in 2017. 91.0% of total supply was consumed by domestic consumers, 5.3% was exported, and 3.7% was used by power plants or lost during transmission.
