Karabakh: Focus on small HPPs Caliber.Az review

The development of renewable energy sources (RES) is among the national priorities of Azerbaijan's socio-economic development. In the next four years, it is planned to increase the share of "green" energy from the current 20 per cent to 33 per cent of the total generation of the country's energy system. A significant role in the development of RES is assigned to the development of the republic's hydro potential, and today the key emphasis is placed on the construction of small hydro power plants (HPP) in the Karabakh region. Over the past three years, dozens of facilities have been reconstructed and construction started in the territories of the country liberated from occupation, and according to the data published recently by AzerEnergy, 12 more small HPPs will be put into operation in 2024.

Today, Azerbaijan's power system is the most powerful in the South Caucasus: it is based on 22 large thermal and more than three dozen hydroelectric power plants of various capacities, most of which are on the balance sheet of AzerEnergy. Taking into account solar, wind and other generating facilities owned by private investors, the total installed capacity of Azerbaijan's energy system is almost 7,954 MW.

Our country is making maximum efforts to participate in the global processes of the "big energy transition of 2030", and over the past few years the republic has made significant progress in the development of "green" energy.

As Deputy Energy Minister Samir Valiyev recently noted, today the share of RES facilities in the total volume of generation in the country is 1,688 MW, or about 20 per cent of the total installed capacity of the energy system. According to the energy department's forecasts, the indicator of the capacity of RES facilities was planned to increase to 30 per cent of the total generation by 2030, but, apparently, this forecast benchmark will be exceeded. "It is expected that by the end of 2027, 1,870 MW of green generation capacity will be integrated into the country's energy system, bringing the share of RES to 33 per cent, which is higher than the forecast target. To achieve this, reforms are being carried out in the country's energy sector," Valiyev said.

According to the deputy minister, one of the key directions of development of the RES sector is to turn the territories liberated from occupation into a zone of "green" energy. Specialists of the ministry of energy and Japanese energy company TEPSCO have developed a concept of renewable energy in Karabakh: according to preliminary studies, the potential of solar energy in Gubadli, Zangilan, Jabrayil and Fuzuli districts, as well as wind generation in Lachin and Kalbajar districts is estimated at more than 9.2 MW.

No less promising is the development of the hydro potential of the territories of Azerbaijan liberated from Armenian occupation: the capacity of small HPPs being created in the mountains of the Lesser Caucasus will exceed 500 MW in the next few years.

As a matter of fact, the forced development of hydropower in the Karabakh and East Zangazur economic regions has turned into the most intensively developing trend in the RES sector to date. In particular, almost immediately after the Patriotic War, in 2021, four hydropower plants with a total generating capacity of 20 MW were restored in the territories of the country liberated from occupation, including the largest ones - "Sugovushan-1" and "Sugovushan-2", another small HPP "Kalbajar-1" with a capacity of 4.4 MW was put into operation in June last year. And this year construction of five more new HPPs with total capacity of 27 MW has been completed by the efforts of specialists of AzerEnergy OJSC in Kalbajar district. Moreover, small hydroelectric power plants "Mishni" with capacity of 8.25 MW and "Alkhasli" with capacity of 6 MW were reconstructed and put into operation in Lachin district. This year the specialists of the energy department also carried out intensive works on the construction of a cascade of medium-sized hydropower plants on the full-flowing mountain river Okhchuchay - "Sarigishlag", "Shayifli", "Zangilan" and "Jahangirbayli" with a total capacity of 42 MW. At the same time, the first facility of this cascade - Jahangirbayli HPP with a capacity of 10.5 MW - was commissioned in September.

It is noteworthy that recently an important milestone was reached in the development of Karabakh's water potential and foreign investors were attracted to these activities within the framework of public and private partnership policy. "Azerbaijan Investment Company OJSC (AIC) signed an agreement with Turkish companies - Demirören Yatırım Holding and Arges Enerji Team, providing for the restoration and operation of five small HPPs with a total capacity of 13.8 MW on the rivers Khakari and Tartar in Kalbajar and Lachin districts," Azerbaijani Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov posted on his social network aaccount X.

The rapid pace of revitalization of Karabakh's hydro potential deserves special praise, especially given the colossal damage inflicted by the Armenian occupiers on the region's water and energy infrastructure. During the 30 years of occupation and the Second Karabakh War, the separatists completely destroyed or rendered inoperable more than two-thirds of the region's three dozen small hydropower plants and other water facilities.

However, despite such barbarism, through the efforts of AzerEnergy and now Turkish partners, the capacious water potential of the Lesser Caucasus will serve as an essential base for power generation. Thus, the JSC announced plans, according to which 12 more small HPPs will be put into operation in the Karabakh region in 2024. 

Such interest in the Karabakh and East Zangazur economic regions is not surprising at all, as the liberated territories account for a quarter of all inland water resources of Azerbaijan. The most promising in this regard are mountainous areas located on the spurs of the Lesser Caucasus, whose rivers and other water sources provide an annual flow of about 2.56 billion cubic meters. In particular, the Khakari River originating in the Lachin district, which is over 100 kilometers long, should be mentioned here. Three more large rivers are located in Kalbajar district: Tartarchay - 200 kilometers, Bazarchay - about 180 kilometers, Khachinchay - about 120 kilometers, as well as the Shakarchay River. A number of lakes and 24 medium and small reservoirs also have considerable hydro potential.

Speaking about the development of hydropower in the Karabakh region, it should be noted that it is mainly about derivation HPPs and dammed hydropower plants (at the runoffs of mountain reservoirs and lakes), whose construction does not require significant investments. Only in the Gubadli, Lachin and Kalbajar mountainous regions there is a possibility of construction and restoration of 45 small HPPs with a total capacity of over 241.3 MW. In turn, along the border with Iran there is an impressive volume of water reserves formed by the second most important river of the country - Araz, where tentatively by early 2026 will be completed the construction of hydroelectric power plants "Khudafarin" with a capacity of 100 MW and "Giz Galasi" - 40 MW.