“Hydropower. The Caspian and Central Asia” is an international congress that took place 15-16 February in Tbilisi, Georgia. Key topics are discussed in this congress which is a professional platform for high-level participants to guide the course for hydropower construction and operation in the Caspian and Central Asia region.
High-profile speakers from 16 countries discussed the changing role of hydropower in the energy mix and the benefits of interconnections beyond national borders. Participants reviewed initiatives and commitments and discussed action priorities that enable better hydro.
Among the speakers and guests were:
• Ilia Eloshvili, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Energy of Georgia
• Azamat Omorov, Deputy Chairman, State Committee for Industry, Energy and Subsoil Management of the Kyrgyz Republic
• Duisen Mergaliyev, President, AES Corporation Kazakhstan
• Evgeniy Bellendir, General Director, Hydroproject Institute
• Mehdi Edalatnia, Head of civil engineering department in Aras Project, Iran Water and Power Resources Development Company
• Urs Muller, Director and President of the board, IM Maggia Engineering
• Brendan Quigley, Chief Operations Officer, Stucky
Investment projects on Greenfield HPP construction and modernisation from Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kirgizia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan were presented at the event. The congress was supported by GE Renewable Energy as a Gold sponsor, Trust Hydromontazh, Flovel Energy and IGHolding Rus as Silver Sponsors, Andritz Hydro, Duglas Alliance as Bronze Sponsors, and Siemens.
Congress in facts and figures:
• 50 keynote presentations delivered by the decision-makers of such companies as AzerEnergy, Adjaristsqali Georgia, National Power Holding company KR, Electric power stations, RusHydro, Nurekskaya HPP, AES Kazakhstan, Iran Water and Power Resources Development Company, NordHydro
• 10+ technology-focus presentations by the industry leaders, such as GE Renewable Energy, ANDRITZ HYDRO, Stucky, Voith Hydro, Siemens, CarpiTech, IGHolding Rus and many others
• Operators’ delegations – High-voltage network, Inguri HPP, Chakan HPP, TataPower Company, Rustavi Group and other companies
• Delegations of the major regional investment companies – International Financial Corporation, Eurasian Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, UNDP, KfW and others.
Within the congress plenary meeting, Deputy Ministry of Energy of Georgia, Ilia Eloshvili mentioned the enormous hydropower potential of the region and the need to strengthen cooperation at the national level. Deputy Minister reported about current construction projects, including country’s HPPs of strategic importance – Khudoni, Nenskra, Namakhvani and Oni-HPP.
Deputy Chairman of State Committee for industry, energy and subsoil use of the Kyrgyz Republic, Ulanbek Ryskulov informed the participants about small-scale hydropower potential of the country. Technically feasible hydropower potential of small rivers and water streams is approximately 5-9 billion kWh annually, but currently just 1% is used. He announced more than 60 promising construction projects.
Within the framework of the session “Efficient Technologies of HPP design, construction and modernisation”, GE shared the experience of the use of on-going innovations to increase the efficiency of power generation processes. Alexander Dvaladze, Sales Leader CIS, GE Renewable Energy, talked about cutting-edge solutions for modernisation and HPP maintenance. He paid special attention to the use of GE digital technologies in hydropower – “Digital Hydropower” conception and digital solution “Asset Performance Management. APM”. The introduction of digital technologies in production ensures performance improvement, plant equipment availability and expenses reduction.
Major financial companies and corporations, such as International Financial Corporation, Eurasian Development Bank, European bank for Reconstruction and Development shared intelligence on how to obtain investments for project implementation. Special focus was placed on RE development support in emerging countries. The congress concluded with informal round tables in two fronts: state-of-the-art technologies for construction and modernisation and project financing.
