Georgia

Georgia is located in the Southern Caucasus and is bounded on the west by the Black Sea, on the north by Russia, on the south by Turkey and Armenia, and on the southeast by Azerbaijan.  

The country covers 69 700 square kilometres with a population of 3.72 million, and the capital is Tbilisi.   

Georgia is a unitary, semi-presidential republic, with the government elected through a system of representative democracy. 

The energy sector, which is very attractive in terms of its untapped potential, developing infrastructure, and increasing local and regional demand, has been instrumental in establishing Georgia’s overall economic policy focused on creating a liberalised market.  

Being a member of the European Energy Community, Georgia is working to align its legislation with the EU energy acquis, particularly to foster deployment of renewable energy and to promote energy efficiency. 

Georgia’s electricity system is interconnected with those of Azerbaijan, Russia, Turkey, and Armenia. The country has a well-developed transmission grid infrastructure. The whole territory of Georgia is covered with over 3,000 km of high, medium, and low voltage lines and about 100 substations. In 2013, a new 400 KV line with HVDC back-to-back substation connecting Georgia with Turkey was commissioned, adding to already significant transmission capacity with all neighbouring countries. The cross-border transmission capacity stands at about 5,000 MW.  

Cross-border trade allows Georgia to balance supply and demand despite the seasonal fluctuations of its hydropower-dominated electricity generation fleet. Due to rising domestic consumption, it has been a net importer of electricity in recent years. Meanwhile, domestic demand is expected to almost double by 2030 from the current consumption of 13.4 TWh. The country’s generation capacity will not be enough to meet domestic demand in the long term without additional generation sources. 

Georgia has vast untapped renewable energy potential. Its approximately 300 rivers could produce a significant amount of hydropower, with potential hydro generation capacity estimated at 15 000 megawatts (MW). Significant private investments have been obtained for the construction of new hydropower plants, stimulated by Georgian power purchase agreements and attractive Turkish market prices for Georgian electricity exports. Wind potential is estimated at 1 500 MW of capacity for 4 TWh of average annual electricity generation. In most regions of the country, annual sunshine duration ranges from 250 to 280 days (1 900 to 2 200 hours), indicating considerable solar photovoltaic and solar thermal potential.