There are several organizations and companies currently active in development of solar energy applications in Georgia:

A non-governmental group, International Energy Center ENECO, has been involved in renewable energy activities in Georgia since 1994. The most interesting of their projects are:

• Installation of NRG Systems (USA) wind data logger on Mount Sabueti in August 1996. The obtained data is to be used for assessing the feasibility of constructing a pilot wind station (3 wind turbines, rated at 110 kW each). Thus, ENECO possesses high accuracy data for one of the promising sites for future wind park development.

• Pilot Solar Station for a Children’s Orphanage. In 1996-97, with financial support from UNDP and Foundation Energies Pour le Monde, ENECO developed and installed a solar system consisting of Giordano (France) solar collectors and Isofoton (Spain) PV panels to supply hot water and electricity to one of the orphanage houses in Tbilisi.

“Mze, Ltd” is still manufacturing, at less than 10% of its soviet era production capacity, simple solar collectors for water heating. As Soviet Union broke up and central governmental orders are no longer forthcoming, demand for these solar collectors is low
due to insufficient advertisement/education, low income of the population and competition from other companies importing similar, but higher quality/efficiency collectors from abroad.

Renewable Energy Department at “Energogeneratsia” (state power generation company of Georgia) has been liaising renewable energy activities in the country. The department was directly involved in solar, geothermal, biogas and wind energy generation feasibility studies. One of the projects implemented, together with Tomen and Nichimen Corporations (Japan), ENECO and “Karenergo” (state wind energy company of Georgia), was a wind energy potential assessment measurements for several promising sites (including Mount Sabueti) in Georgia.

Former military aviation factory “Tbilaviamsheni”, still manufacturing and servicing well- known Su-25 and MiG-21 fighters, due to lack of military orders, has started to manufacture various types of civil equipment, including hydro power plant turbines. Possessing military technology and assembly lines, the plant is capable of producing high efficiency solar installations so needed for the Georgian market.

Under the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funding PA Government Services — Georgia through its local sub-contractors has recently implemented two small solar energy installations as parts of Energy Efficiency projects:

• 20 m2 solar collectors in Bolnisi (southern Georgia) — providing hot water to an elderly nursing house “Chagara”.

• 60 m2 solar collectors in Batumi (Ajara, south-western Georgia) — providing hot water to a small private hotel “L-Bakuri”.

Few entrepreneurs and small construction firms are also importing solar water heaters (mostly Turkish and Italian-made) and on occasional basis more expensive PV panels (island systems) for individual housing projects.

Although long a matter of discussions and various drafts by the State Chancellery and Ministry of Fuel and Energy, only in early 2002 a “Program of Application of Natural (Renewable) Energy Resources of Georgia” was submitted by the Ministry to the President for approval. The program is still in the air and not implemented.

Georgia is a mountainous country with numerous resorts and settlements scattered in remote locations, often cut off from the main electricity grid and in acute need of energy supply. These instances could be well suited for solar energy applications, similar to Aspindza Solar Settlement project, but driven by economic levers of small business and tourism industry.

2. CONCLUSIONS

The weakness of the power sector is one of the major obstacles to economic growth in Georgia. Long power outages are a daily occurrence in much of the country, and parts of Georgia do not receive any electricity for several days at all. Especially during the last few years, due to financial crisis in the energy sector, it is very difficult to pay for natural gas or oil imports to meet the country’s energy needs and the country is forced to rely heavily on hydropower resources and to look for alternatives to thermal power generation.

Although renewable sources other than hydro currently have no significant share in the electrical energy sector of Georgia, their importance is well acknowledged and there is a certain (but not sufficient) activity in this direction. Hopefully, in the near future we will see
much wider application of solar, wind, biogas and geothermal energy systems satisfying the population’s basic energy needs.

As to solar energy, in contrast to western countries where governments provide incentive programs and legal frameworks for development of solar (and other renewable) energy applications, the driving force in Georgia most likely will be population and small businesses (unsupported from the government) looking for viable, dependable and economically justified small island power installations providing alternative energy independent of unreliable and already very expensive national grid.