Adjaristsqali Georgia LLC has a new chief executive officer. The company’s supervisory board nominated Satish Bhat for this position. With his experience in the field of energy spanning 32 years, Satish has been engaged in activities encompassing business development and project implementation. His qualifications in renewable energy comprises the management of both solar and hydropower sites. Satish Bhat is a member of the board of directors of more than one company specializing in renewable energy.
Satish Bhat is poised to lead Adjaristsqali Georgia and, accordingly, the Shuakhevi HPP, the largest energy site built in Georgia over the past decades and boasting an installed capacity of 187 MW. Launched in 2020, the Shuakhevi HPP’s commercial operation has so far generated more then 1,700 million kWh. Satish Bhat, the company’s chief executive officer, is our guest today in Business Morning.
Greetings, Mister Bhat. Welcome to Georgia. We want to wish you success in all your endeavors. For years, we have been keeping an eye on and covering both the construction and operation of the Shuakhevi HPP. How do you see this year? And what innovations do you have in store for the company?
Greetings, thank you very much for having me on your show. It is a great honor to be managing one of the largest and most important energy sites in Georgia. Firstly, I would like to say a few words about the team that I found here in Georgia. It is a delight to meet and work with so many Georgian professionals. This team is capable of dealing with any difficulty and constantly progressing toward success. Any innovation we are planning and we are already working various directions to this end will serve the company’s interests and build on the team’s decisions. As for this year, it is a well-known fact that this year, similar to the previous one, has been marked by an abundance of water, making it a good year for a power generation company. If this abundance persists, electric power to be generated this year will amount to the planned indicator, much the way it did last year. As of today, the Shuakhevi HPP Cascade which incorporates the 178 MW Shuakhevi HPP and the 9 MW Skhalta HPP has generated 390 million kWh.
Your years-long experience in the field of energy, how would you assess Georgia’s energy sector? How fast is it developing, and what possible needs are out there to be met?
Firstly, to develop any country’s energy sector, it is of crucial importance to make maximum use of the resources available in the given country. Needless to say, because of your country’s natural resources, hydro will always be big in Georgia, though it is equally important to develop other directions, such as solar and wind. The system must be integrated. An amalgamation of renewable energy sites will put together an energy system underpinning the country’s energy security.
As for the pace of development, as I arrival here, the Government of Georgia introduced a new support mechanism known as CFD, one that offers new opportunities to investors. The numbers of companies bidding in the first auction are indicative of a high interest from investors. This move by the government may in some way incentivize the energy sector toward actively constructing new energy sites. The country must tap into its natural resources. This is important for both the country’s energy security and long-term economic development.
Let’s take the Shuakhevi HPP for example. Besides making a formidable contribution to the country’s energy security, what other role can the Shuakhevi HPP play in the development of the country or the region where you happen to be working?
Generally, energy projects play an enormously important role in the long-term economic development of a given country. In the construction phase, the Shuakhevi HPP employed over 1,000 Georgian citizens, most of them locals, of course. As for the operation phase, there are about 80 people working in our company. The Shuakhevi HPP construction phase saw hundreds of social projects carried out with a view to improving the living conditions of the local population and bolstering the region’s long-term development. We continue social projects even at the operation stage, making an all-out effort every year to engage the local community and bring to life initiatives in line with the region’s needs, in the form of educational, infrastructural, or small-business financing alike. The property taxes paid by us have already exceeded 55 million. Energy projects throughout their life-cycl including project development and subsequent operation play a vitally beneficial role in the country’s long-term economic development.
