Armenia expects tender for 30 MW geothermal plant to be held 2018

View over Kapan, southern Armenia (source: flickr/ Gregor Samsa, creative commons)

Alexander Richter 29 Apr 2017

The Ministry of Energy in Armenia expects to issue a tender for the construction of a 30 MW geothermal power plant at Karkar in the southern part of the country in late 2018.

Reported this weekend from Armenia, the country’s Ministry of Energy, Infrastructure and Natural Resource expects to issue a tender for the construction of a 30 MW geothermal power plant in the Southern part of the country in late 2018. This was announced by Deputy Minister Hayk Harutyunyan in discussions with journalists last week.

The exploratory drilling near Sisisan (Karkar village) was financed by a $8.55 million grant from the World Bank. According to preliminary estimates, if built the geothermal power plant in Karkar will be able to operate 7,000 hours per year, the highest among other alternative sources of energy.

According to the deputy minister, exploratory drilling confirmed the availability of geothermal potential. “We drilled two wells -1,495 and 1,682 meters deep and we can talk about the availability of a geothermal resource, based on which we can build a station that will use underground hot springs,” said Harutyunyan.

He noted that at present a feasibility study is being conducted jointly with consultants, and negotiations with potential investors are to be held in future to understand whether there is a need to drill a third control well. He said the 30 MW station will produce 200-250 million kWh of electricity per year. Earlier the deputy minister said that the construction of a geothermal power plant in Karkar with 30 MW capacity will cost about $100 million.

At present, the total potential of geothermal energy in Armenia is estimated at about 150 MW.

Source: Arka News Agency