28 September 2026 Media Aghasi Tavadyan

Solar danger and new demand for electricity

Oragir.News · 14 minutes

“The nuclear power plant in the Republic of Armenia has been standing still for five months, and most of that production comes from thermal power plants that run on gas from Russia. If the price of gas from Russia rises, it will inevitably affect the price of electricity. Solar energy was zero six years ago, and now it is 18% of our total production, and this may seem good at first glance. The problem is that solar electricity has significant seasonality, both in terms of the year and in terms of the day. Electricity is one of the few goods that, once produced, must be consumed immediately. Peak solar production occurs during the daytime, and peak consumption occurs in the evening, after six.”

“At the same time, demand is growing: the number of electric cars will increase day by day, almost half of new buildings are being built without gas, and a month ago the ‘Firebird’ center opened in Hrazdan, which has a capacity of 300 megawatts. We will face the fact that, from a country that produces and exports electricity, we will become an importing country. If we want energy not to become more expensive, to be energy independent, we must think about battery capacities, which we do not have. Since Armenia is a rather concave country in terms of geographical location - slopes, valleys, first of all we must think about hydroelectric power plants. Imagine that we have two ponds, and at peak hours, as soon as solar electricity is able to provide 100% of our entire demand, we use that electricity, pumping water from the lower pond to the upper pond. In the evening, as soon as we need additional electricity, we release the water.”