How Communities Will Benefit from Operation of Solar Stations: Public Hearings in Vayots Dzor

On April 28, 2022, the 4th public hearing of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) reports on the construction of 6 solar power stations took place in Azatek, Herher, Arin and Malishka settlements in Vayots Dzor Region.

Two of five MW stations will be in Azatek settlement, the other 4 will be in different land plots in the area called Varvats Mount in Herher settlement. The towers of 110 kW overhead power transmission lines of the stations will be located in Arin and Malishka settlements.

The stations will be operated by the interconnected "Et Solar", "EDM Solar", "Sun Solar", "Dustr Solar", "Arm Solar", and "I Solar" LLC, most of the shares of which belong to Karlen Minasyan, a resident of Vayq community.

The heads and residents of the above-mentioned four settlements were generally unaware of the possible risks to the environment during the construction and operation of the solar stations, as well as the possibility for companies to legally enforce the social assistance component for their settlements. If the public hearings were ensured with sufficient participation of the locals in Azatek and Herher, the hearings were attended by several employees of the municipality and several residents in Arin and Malishka.

Karlen Minasyan, the main owner of the stations, and Taron Navasardyan, a representative of Ecogroup, which designed the EIA reports, Vrezh Vardanyan and Hovik Mesropyan, chief specialists of the Environmental Impact Assessment Center of Environment Ministry were present at all the public discussions.

The hearings in the form of questions and answers took place only in Azatek and Herher, where "EcoLur" raised the issue of the reasons for removing the social assistance component from the final reports, the use of decommissioned solar panels, the problems of possible environmental impact, issues to complete the construction of the stations without giving a positive conclusion to EIA application.

In response to the question of not including the social assistance component in the final reports, Taron Navasardyan said, “Finally, it was removed to be included in the regulated relations between the community and the initiator, they will discuss the mutual agreement on social investments. Some of the residents who took part in the discussion, in their turn, mentioned the need to include a clause in some document on social assistance. Hovik Mesropyan assured that the point on providing social assistance to the communities would be enshrined in the state expert opinion given on the application as a mandatory fulfillment requirement.

Taron Navasardyan mentioned that the panels damaged during the operation stage will be temporarily stored in warehouses built on the territory of the company, and after the operation of the station they will be handed over to the companies with hazardous waste neutralization and protection licenses.

According to the statement in the applications, the storage and maintenance of photovoltaic panels will be carried out by companies under the supervision of the relevant municipalities. Meanwhile, the employee of the municipality cannot be aware of the procedure of proper storage and preservation of that waste, because such a procedure does not exist in Armenia yet. Taron Navasardyan mentioned, "The community employee just has to make sure that the company does what it promised. We have to go through and see that the billboards are not scattered.” According to "EcoLur", the given answer is primitive, such an approach is unprofessional.

Karlen Minasyan also responded to the issue of building a station without receiving a positive conclusion from EIA application. "Yes, 95% of the construction work is done. According to the law, when we receive a construction permit for a station, after receiving it, I have the right to start the construction work of the solar station.” It should be noted that according to RA Law on Environmental Impact Assessment and Expertise, the planned activity is subject to expertise rather than the already constructed object. There is a legislative gap here.