Panorama.am
Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan gave a number of instructions to the Minister of Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources Ashot Manukyan in cooperation with the Public Services Regulatory Commission to submit proposals to the National Water Council on the current situation in the field of water use permits and operating licenses granted to small hydropower plants.
“Specifically to revise the small hydropower plants development scheme as approved at the Cabinet meeting of January 22, 2009 under Protocol Decision 3, and to consider the expediency of issuing new water use permits for construction of new hydropower plants in the basins of the rivers Akhurian, Dzoraget-Debed, Azat, Arpa, Vorotan.” the Minister noted.
Besides the Head of the Government assigned to submit proposals to understand the tariff policy in the field of new pricing mechanisms for small hydropower plants in order to mitigate the environmental problems, “I think we all understand the meaning of my assignment. In any case, we have met environmental problems on those rivers, where we have planned more hydropower plants than it probably should have been. I think there are solutions, namely applying restrictions on water use permit. The Ministry of Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources is expected to address the matter in a way that no problems could arise associated with energy security. We have river basins with excessive small hydro power plants density, and there is a problem,” Karen Karapetyan outlined.
October 27, 2016 at 14:02