The Armenian government intends to increase the share of solar energy production to 15% by 2030, and reduce the share of hydropower by 2.6%.
RA Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure has published "National Program for Renewable Energy and Energy Saving for 2022-2030" on e-draft.am website, which defines the priorities and development directions of the spheres.
The project envisages a significant expansion of the production of electricity from renewable energy sources, in particular solar energy, which, according to the project, will increase the reliability of Armenia's energy system, the level of energy independence and security.
The government prioritizes the development of solar energy. It is expected to increase the share of solar energy production to at least 15% in 2030. It is planned to hold international tenders for the construction of large solar photovoltaic stations for 5 solar photovoltaic stations with a capacity of 120 MW. During the program period, it is planned to launch 300 MW energy storage battery systems. It is noted that during the last three years Armenia has successfully held international tenders for two large solar stations with an installed capacity of 255 MW.
Under the program, the complete replacement of natural gas with solar energy will require the construction of 700 MW renewable energy plants considering that in the first half of 2021, about 150 MW plants are already in operation. Hydropower is not included in these capacities.
"Significant changes in hydropower capacity are not expected in the coming years, given the limited resources and possible negative impact on the environment. The share of hydropower in the structure of final energy consumption in 2030 will be 3.6%, decreasing by 2.6 percentage points compared to 2019, which will be "compensated" by increasing the shares of other modern renewable energy sources,” the document says.
Regarding nuclear energy, it says that it accounts for about 18% of the primary energy supply and will not be replaced.
The final energy consumption in 2030 is forecasted as follows for the sectors: industry - 443, transport - 1305, households - 1,260, services - 523, agriculture - 189, non-energy consumption - 114 kilotons of petroleum equivalent.
It is predicted that the total emissions of greenhouse gases in the energy sector will decrease by about 50% in 2030 as compared to the levels for 1990. The share of low carbon energy in the structure of electricity generation will have a decreasing tendency in 2030 by 51% compared to 60% in 2019 due to the fact that the exported electricity will be mainly produced at the expense of the use of natural gas.
November 11, 2021 at 14:45