Armenia’s electricity generation is primarily produced via the Metsamar Nuclear Plant.  This plant has two units with a combined capacity of 815 MW.  The plant was shut down in March of 1989 because of safety concerns, however, Unit 2 was restarted in 1995, while Unit 1 has been deemed unusable to operate and will not be restarted.

In addition to the nuclear plant, Armenia has 3 thermal plants with a total capacity of 1,756 MW.  These plants are operating beyond their planned lifetime, which significantly limits plant efficiency.  All fossil fuels must be imported into Armenia, thus these plants are continually low on fuel and are unable to operate near capacity. 

Hydroelectricity provides a significant portion of Armenia’s electricity, with 25 percent of generation in 2000.  The current hydroelectric capacity is concentrated on the Hrazdan River. 

The electric supply is currently not available to all regions on a regular basis, thus potential demand far outpaces supply. The Armenian and Iranian power grids are currently connected, thus allowing electric trade across the border.  The interconnection of the power grids in Georgia and Turkmenistan to that in Iran is currently being investigated to increase regional trade and power supply stability.

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On November 9, 2004 legislation was passed on the Law of the Republic of Armenia on Energy Saving and Renewable Energy.   The purposes of the present Law shall be defining the principles of the state policy on development of the energy saving and renewable energy and the mechanisms of the enforcement of those aimed at:  

·          Strengthening the economic and energy independence of the Republic of Armenia;

·          Increasing the economic and energy security; and energy systems safety level of the Republic of Armenia;

·          Establishment and development of new industry infrastructure and organization of services promoting energy saving and renewable energy;

·          Reduction of adverse techno-born impacts on the environment and human health.

The principles of state policy in the area of energy saving and renewable energy are:

·          Increasing level of supply of indigenous renewable energy carriers to satisfy the energy demand of the economy;

·          Implementation of energy saving, as well as development and enforcement of legal and economic mechanisms for the promotion of renewable energy;

·          Ensuring high priority of efficient use of energy given the increasing volumes of imported and extracted energy resources;

·          Ensuring increase of renewable energy resources usage as well as application and development of renewable energy new technologies aimed promoting that;

·          Ensuring competitiveness of renewable energy resources and protection/enforcement of rights of businesses engaged in the area of renewable energy;

·          Ensuring high priority of issues of environmental protection and efficient (economic) usage of natural resources while implementing measures/activities aimed at the development of the energy saving and renewable energy;

·          Promotion of energy efficient production of electric and/or heat energy, including for autonomous energy producers;

·          Promotion of integrated activities between the autonomous energy producers, using renewable energy resources, and the energy system aimed at the exchange of electric energy;

·          Promotion of consumer choices and use of different energy carriers and energy efficiency technologies;

·          Implementation of energy saving and renewable energy state (national) targeted programs.

Additional energy policy, barriers and incentives include:

·          Wind- Armenian Energy Regulatory Commission has issued a tariff of 5 cents/kWh (excluding VAT) for the SolarEN project

·          All energy – Difficult economic conditions

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Armenia’s best wind resource areas are generally located on top of the higher ridges and mountains or in wind corridors such as mountain passes.  Armenia is located beneath the mid-latitude westerly jet stream, a high-speed ribbon of air several kilometers above sea level that circles the globe and also affects the wind resource in North America and Asia.  The interaction of the jet stream and the major topographic features of Armenia is one of the factors that have a significant influence on the distribution of the wind resource.  The jet stream also controls the progress of weather systems across Armenia and the Trans-Caucus region.  The pressure gradient between weather systems can have a major effect on the wind resource in areas subject to acceleration because of local terrain.  The jet stream influence is greatest from October through March.  In the warmer part of the year (April through September), the jet stream is considerably weaker, and differential heating caused by the elevation changes within Armenia and between locations to the north and east of the country controls the distribution of the wind resource.  The differential heating among the plateaus, ridge tops, and low elevation areas produce regional and local temperature and pressure gradients that cause the wind to blow.  

As a result of the regional and local winds, the wind resource distribution in Armenia during the warm season is quite disparate.  Some locations have little wind resource and other locations, especially in some passes, have high wind resource.  Overall, the combination of jet stream and regional heating influences produce a complex wind resource pattern in Armenia and it is highly recommended that measurements be made before any wind energy project is established.

Armenian law provides that purchasing of all the electrical energy from renewable energy sources is mandatory until the year 2016. The announced feed in tariff is 0.05 USD/kWh. There is currently 3 MW of wind energy capacity installed in Armenia.

Armenia has a fairly good potential for wind energy development.  The most promising sites are (from north to south) Pushkin-Pass, Aragaz, Sevan Lake, Sisian-Pass, and Karakhach Pass.

Armenia Wind Resource Map (Source:  U.S. National Renewable Energy Lab)

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Biomass energy has potential to provide significant power if utilized.  Armenia has reasonable areas of land covered by forests and lands for agricultural industry, including farming of plants and animals.  These sources can potentially produce residues which could be used as fuel for biomass combustion or gasification, as well as biogas production through anaerobic digestion.  Forest residues such as slash from forest thinnings and waste wood from sawmills can provide a concentrated resource to be used as fuel for energy production.  Agricultural residues can provide a range of residues, including crop residues (corn stover, nutshells, fruit tree branches, etc.) and animal wastes.

To utilize biomass as an energy resource in Armenia would require significant analysis of the available residues.  Given the amount of forestland, agriculture, and livestock, biomass fuels could prove to be valuable sources of energy.

Biogas is not currently utilized as a modern energy resource in Armenia.  However, an attempt has been made to attract foreign investment for the construction of a large biogas plant.  If funding were available, it could be possible to construct a biogas plant within 12 to 15 years with a daily methane production of up to 100,000 m³.

In 1994 The Armenian Ministry of energy articulated a strategy to “Develop and demonstrate a set of improved farm scale biogas concepts”.  Under this program, The Armenian State Engineering University, the Armenian Agricultural Academy, and the Biological Institute assisted in the technical design and construction of a few digesters.  However, given the reorganization at the farms and lack of technical and organizational support, these systems became non-operational over a short time.  No meaningful data was therefore generated, however the interest to anaerobic digesters is strengthening by the privatization of agriculture and farm in Armenia.  Family farms are increasingly incorporating strong commercial elements.  One result is livestock concentration, a situation offering potentially larger quantities of available animal manures in a more localized region.

The table below shows the overall biomass resource data for Armenia.

Armenia Biomass Resource Data

Biomass resource type	Total production	Production density
Percent of total land area covered by	15%
Forests	24%
Shrublands, savanna, and grasslands	55%
Cropland and crop/natural vegetation mosaic	1%
Urban and built-up areas	0%
Sparse or barren vegetation; snow and ice	5%
Wetlands and water bodies	15%
Primary crop production, tonne	(avg. 1999-2001, tonne)	(tonne /1000 Ha)
Total primary crops (rank among COO)	4,101,449  (23)	1,454  (14)
Top 10 primary crops
Forage Products (misc)	2,513,333	891
Potatoes	356,072	126
Maize for Forage & Silage	233,833	83
Wheat	229,984	82
Tomatoes	156,301	55
Grapes	115,698	41
Vegetables Fresh (misc)	82,333	29
Cabbages	69,253	25
Watermelons	65,380	23
Barley	52,291	19
Animal units, number	(number)	(number / 1000 Ha)
Cattle	473,904	168
Poultry	3,722,000	1,320
Pigs	78,370	28
Equivalent animal units	542,472	192
Annual roundwood production	(1996-98, 000 m3)	(m3 / Ha)
Total	33	11.7
Fuel	33	11.7
Industrial	NA	NA
Wood-based panels	NA	NA
	(1996-98, 000 metric tons)	(metric tons / Ha)
Paper and paperboard	NA	NA
Recovered paper	NA	NA

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Armenia is rich in solar energy resources, the utilization of which will reduce the need for imports of other energy sources.  The average annual solar radiation is approximately 1,720 kWh/m2 compared to the average annual European solar radiation of 1,000 kWh/m2.  Over a quarter of the territory of the country has solar resources with an intensity of 1,850 kWh/m2.  Solar radiation in the Sevan basin is substantial at 2,800 hours.

In spite of very favorable climatic conditions and absence of own traditional energy resources, there is little use of solar energy in Armenia.

The solar energy resource potential is characterized by the data presented in the tables below for three areas, Yerevan (a capital), Sevan, Kochbek.  The last one is located at Southwest of Republic at the height 2387 m over sea level.

Monthly and annual total solar radiation incident on horizontal surface, MJ/m²