Energy in Georgia (country)

Wind power in Georgia consists of one wind farm, completed in 2013 with 20 MW of capacity.[http://en.trend.az/regions/scaucasus/georgia/2193320.html Georgian Energy and Natural Resources Minister inspects construction site of country's first wind power plant] Currently the only available wind farm is located in the Shida Kartli region, near its regional capital city of Gori.[https://agenda.ge/en/news/2016/2409 Energy Minister: “Kartli wind power plant a reality” Georgia welcomes first wind farm] The country is in the planning process of creating a new offshore wind farm near Tbilisi. In the next following years the government has created a plan to increase the number of available wind farms to maximize wind power by 20%. The wind farms will be located in Zestaponi, Nigoza and Ruisi.{{Cite web |last=Gerden |first=Eugene |title=Georgia plans 200MW wind build-out |url=https://www.windpowermonthly.com/article/1717593 |access-date=2022-12-08 |website=www.windpowermonthly.com |language=en}} An offshore wind farm typically has turbines located in bodies of water such as the sea. High wind speeds from storms at sea allow the wind farms to generate larger quantities of energy per year than compared to that of inland wind farms. In the case of Georgia the wind farm would be located near the Black Sea.

File:Wind turbines on Nurdağı 02.jpg

Approximately 1% of energy supply in Georgia comes from wind and solar farms. As of 2019 Georgia has produced 20.7 MW of renewable energy from wind power. It has the potential of producing 4.16 terawatt hours per year in electricity and heat. According to a report from the International Renewable Energy Agency, in 2019 73% of renewable energy was used for electricity and 26% was used for bioenergy.

As of 2021, the capacity had increased to 21 MW.{{Cite web |title=Renewable Capacity Statistics 2021 |url=https://www.irena.org/-/media/Files/IRENA/Agency/Publication/2021/Apr/IRENA_RE_Capacity_Statistics_2021.pdf |archive-url=}}

Solar energy in Georgia is widely available,{{Cite web |date=2020 |title=RENEWABLE ENERGY PROJECTS ON CONSTRUCTION, LICENSING AND FEASIBILITY STAGES |url=https://geenergyweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Solar.pdf |website=Energy Week Georgia}} due to high average insolation.

In 2021, Georgia contracted Abu Dhabi's Masdar to develop a 100-megawatt solar power project in a move to diversify the country's energy mix.{{Cite web |last=Bhat |first=Divsha |date=2021-12-30 |title=Abu Dhabi's Masdar to develop Georgia's largest solar power plant |url=https://gulfbusiness.com/abu-dhabis-masdar-to-develop-georgias-largest-solar-power-plant/ |access-date=2022-04-04 |website=Gulf Business |language=en-US}} The government is on a mission to reduce greenhouse gasses by this new implementation of alternative energy. It is expected that by 2030 greenhouse gasses will be reduced by 29.25 Mt CO2eq, which may be a result of the renewable energy options.{{Cite web |title=Factsheet: Renewable Energy in Georgia |url=https://www.ren21.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Factsheet_Georgia-HardTalk-2021.pdf}}

In the colder months of the year the average temperature in Georgia can get down to around 10°C. Since the temperatures are very cold, it is hard for the government to rely on hydropower. In place of hydropower, the main source of power in the winter is natural gas. The two sources of energy use a mutualistic relationship to optimize energy potential. In 2019 the country consumed 84,756 million cubic feet of natural gas.{{Cite web |title=Georgia Natural Gas |url=https://www.worldometers.info/gas/georgia-natural-gas/}} The natural gas is imported from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia, and Turkey.

In 2019 Georgia produced 8.93 terawatt hours per year from hydropower. The Georgian National Energy and Water Supply Regulatory Commission controls the use of hydropower. As of 2020, Georgia produced 3818 MW from hydropower. Although hydropower is not used much in the winter due to the temperature, in the summer it is one of the highest energy producers. However, an issue that may occur with rising temperature will affect evaporation. High hydropower use creates a chain link reaction that increases evaporation, which then increases precipitation, and leads to an increase in river flow.

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• [https://english.caucasianjournal.org/2020/03/bjorn-brandtzaeg-as-georgia-develops-it.html/ Bjorn BRANDTZAEG: "As Georgia develops, it needs more domestically generated electricity"] — Interview of Bjorn Brandtzaeg (Clean Energy Group) for Caucasian Journal

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