Due to the geographical location of our country, solar radiation is rather high. In most regions of the country there are approximately 280 sunny days. It means that Georgia has really good potential for growing the solar energy system.
According to the Ten-Year Network Development Plan of Georgia, for 2031, the total installed capacity for solar power plants in Georgia will grow up to 520 mw. That's just a plan - In reality we have only micro projects based on a net-metering system. All the challenges that our country faces in terms of developing solar energy, BMG covered with Tornike Darjania, the chief of Helios Energy Georgia - This is a solar energy company, established in 2017.
I see that small solar energy projects are growing in Georgia, generally for households. What projects are you working on for now?
Our company was established in 2017 and we have developed slowly from the very beginning. Our solar business was boosted this year because of one reason - an increase in electricity prices. If we compare the prices which we had last year, there is about a 70% difference and for sure consumers are interested in having their own electricity, because everybody knows that electricity prices will increase in future and so they would like to have their own type of generation and the solar energy is one of the best options because you can install it on your side, where you have factory or something. This year we have about 500% growth in comparison with last year. So, we see that there is a market and this market is growing. This is very good for development.
How would you assess solar energy potential in Georgia and how attractive is it for investors?
We say in Georgia, that Georgia is mostly for hydropower plants and we have a very big potencial this way but also we have a very big potential in wind and solar and geothermal energy.
But talking about solar energy, compared with the European countries the average annual irradiation in European countries, for example in Germany, is about 1000 kwh/m2. In Georgia we sometimes have 1300-1400 kwh/m2 and this is quite a good value. We also have sunny days in winter.
How would you assess availability of a net-metering system for households? Also, what is your impression about public awareness towards renewable energies?
First of all I want to say a few words about what a net-metering system is. This is somehow a Georgian term. Net-metering means to feed into the grid the electricity which we do not consume the time of the generation, but when there is no sun and we need the electricity, we can bring it back to our consumption from the electrosystem.
For households it works well, but in Georgia we have different prices for households - they pay less for 1 kw/hr than the business. The difference is quite huge and that's why it is worse for businesses to install solar PV stations or other generation sources than households.
What we have also in Georgia - We have the credit lines, because the banks and leasing companies are also involved in this process and they offer products to clients. You do not need your own sources. So, banks are following these trends and projects.
Do you think the net-metering system needs further development?
I would say that the net-metering system which we have till now is a very good model. Even we have so cold virtual net-metering - it means that you can have your own power station at another place and you can get your generated electricity at another place, without paying electricity transmission cost, but now we are in the time when the electricity market is changing, so we are in the reform process and we have a challenge now for net-metering system to keep it somehow, that's why we are working with the tariff commission now.
We still do not have a Solar power plant except for the projects that are involved in the net-metering system. What is the reason? Why do investors hesitate to invest? We have projects only on paper…
Yes, you are right and I know some projects that we have on paper for almost 6-7 years. The very first problem is that we do not have Power Purchase Agreements (PPA). PPA was canceled several years ago. And now the only opportunity we have is the market, but here we have another problem - Georgian Energy Exchange requires from the power plants to predict how much electricity they can generate, but we can not anticipate the generation of solar. I think we have to take the models of other countries and this way solve the problem.
Another problem is the support mechanism that our government offers to the investors interested in the Georgian Energy Sector. This is a Feed-in-premium tariff and according to this model the government pays you 1.5 cent additional for per kw/hr electricity and this is a maximum. Investors and everyone say that this is not enough. To our calculation 1 kw should be paid for about 6-6.5 cents and this payment should be in the long term.
What are your plans for 2022?
This year we built about 4 mgvt install capacity and for the next year our aim is to double this result. We also want to go into other types of generation business. For instance, geothermal, hit-pump technologies are very important now, because we see that gas prices are rising and new technologies of heating and cooling systems are also promising for the future and we should develop these systems in Georgia.
