Energy advisory company OMNIA published Electricity Market Report for May, 2023. According to the document, Georgia’s renewable energy sources (RES) generation potential is one of the highest in the region, however, it is using only 19% of this potential. Georgia has a total installed capacity of 4632.3 MW. Of this capacity, 3551.2 MW (77%) is renewable energy, consisting mainly of hydro power plants. Georgia also has great export and transit potential.
Renewable energy in the form of hydro and wind remains the main source of power supply in Georgia. Over the past twelve months, Georgia generated 10,780.0 GWh of hydro and wind energy, and 3,580.6 GWh of thermal energy. The share of renewable energy in Georgia's power
generation during this period was 75.1%.
From a cross-border balance perspective, Georgia was a net exporter. The import volume for this period was 959.5 GWh, while the country exported 1,114.9 GWh. The net cross-border exchange amounted to 155.4 GWh. Georgia exported 1.1 % of its total domestic generation in the past twelve-month period.
The share of balancing energy in the power trade balance over the last twelve months averaged around 19 % and reached 2,689.7 GWh during the period starting from June 2022. The average weighted price for balancing energy during this period was 144.23 GEL/MWh. It reached a maximum of 170.7 GEL/MWh in October 2022, and a minimum of 85.2 GEL/MWh in May 2023.
The share of PPA producers in the total amount of balancing energy over the last twelve months was about 90 %. The share of RES PPAs was 61%, while the share of thermal PPAs was 29%.
The factual net consumption in May 2023 was 1028.5 GWh, which was 80.6 GWh or 7.3 % less than planned. Meanwhile, thermal power generation
was not planned in May 2023. RES power plants generated 121.2 GWh, 8.4 % more than planned. Georgia exported 248.2 GWh of energy in May 2022 to Turkey and Armenia. Planned export in 2023 was 290 GWh, which is 42 GWh or 14.5 % mor than factually exported.
Total domestic generation 1325.4 GWh, which is 119.6 GWh, or 8.3 % less than forecasted. Operation of thermal power plants was not planned in May 2023. Only 0.9 GWh was generated by G-power in the mentioned month. 100 % of the total energy consumed in Georgia was generated locally.
Domestic generation consists of 99.9 % generated by RES sources, and 0.1 % by thermal power plants, which use natural gas.
Due to the high inflow, the share of hydro power generation reached 100%. A portion of this power was consumed domestically, while the excess power was exported to neighbouring countries such as Armenia and Turkey. The diagrams display the hourly volumes of system consumption and net cross-border exchange.
The volume of balancing energy in May 2023 was 131.6 GWh, which accounts for approximately 10% of the total net traded power for the month, including exports. This volume is 6.2% lower than that of May 2022 and about 9.1% lower than the twelve-month average.
In May 2023, 100% of the balancing energy was generated by renewable energy sources.
The balancing energy price for May 2023 was 85.2 GEL/MWh. De-regulated power plants were paid 18.57 GEL/MWh. Comparing it to May of the previous year, the balancing energy price in May 2023 was 52.4 GEL/MWh lower. This difference can be attributed to the sources of the balancing energy and the exchange rate, which influence the balancing energy price. It is important to note that Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) producer prices are set in foreign exchange.
