Renewable energy in Armenia ranges from geothermal, hydroelectric, solar and

wind Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few ho ...

energy in

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ' ...

Development

The

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

has supported Armenia's transition to sustainable energy through various initiatives and grants. In 2019, the former Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia, Andrea Wiktorin stated: "Armenia is moving forward on its sustainable energy pathway, with strong support from the European Union." According to the International Energy Agency, imports of oil and gas continue to cover 75% of Armenia's energy needs. However, the

Government of Armenia A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

has focused it's energy policy towards developing indigenous energy sources, mainly renewable, and on replacing the country's main nuclear reactor. Meanwhile, energy efficiency policy has also become a bigger priority as energy security and reliability remain key focus areas of the government. Armenia is part of the EU4Energy Progamme, which provides the six countries of the

Eastern Partnership The Eastern Partnership (EaP) is a joint initiative of the European External Action Service of the European Union (EU) together with the EU, its member states, and six Eastern European partners governing the EU's relationship with the post-Sovi ...

with the necessary tools for effective evidence-based policy design and shaping policy in such sectors as energy security, sustainable energy and energy markets.

Sources

Geothermal

Armenia is constructing the Jermaghbyur Geothermal Power Plant which will be the country's largest

geothermal power plant Geothermal power is electrical power generated from geothermal energy. Technologies in use include dry steam power stations, flash steam power stations and binary cycle power stations. Geothermal electricity generation is currently used in 2 ...

having an installed electric capacity of 150 MW. As of 2018, the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources of Armenia is considering the development of a geothermal plant on the Jermaghbyur and

Karkar Karkar may refer to: * Karkar, Selseleh, a village in Iran *Karkar Island, an island in Papua New Guinea * Karkar language, a language spoken in Papua New Guinea * Karkar Rural LLG, a local-level government in Papua New Guinea * Karkar Morghi Deli ...

sites in a package solution with a single investor. An $8.55M grant was awarded by the World Bank in 2015 for further exploration of geothermal resources in Armenia. Reconnaissance drilling for Armenia's first geothermal power plant in Jermaghbyur (Jermaghbyur Geothermal Power Plant) was conducted in 2016. The drilling works of the first wells with the depth of 1500m and the second well of 1682m have been completed. The total cost of the geothermal power plant construction project at Karkar site is expected to make about $100 million. Karkar geothermal power plant with a capacity of 30 MW will generate around 250 million kWh of electricity in a year. A high pressure (20-25 atmosphere pressure) hot water (up to 250 °C) considered to be available in depth of 2500–3000 meters in Jermaghbyur is a potential source of geothermal energy with a capacity of 25 MW.

Bioenergy

The bioenergy sphere is gradually developing in

. There are three rudimentary branches of bio energy: biofuel, biomass and

biogas Biogas is a mixture of gases, primarily consisting of methane, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide, produced from raw materials such as agricultural waste, manure, municipal waste, plant material, sewage, green waste and food waste. It is a ...

. Many scientists see the future of renewable energy of Armenia in bio energy. The first is biofuel. As is accepted worldwide, the substantial sources of

bio-ethanol Ethanol (abbr. EtOH; also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound. It is an Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol with the chemical formula . Its formula can be also written as or (an ethyl ...

are corn and sugarcane. Through these ingredients, bio ethanol is generated. Even in the case of blending it 50–50 with

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

, the price will be cheaper than in ordinary cases. Thus, prices for transportation will decrease as well. The weather in Armenia is not appropriate for growing sugarcane, so the

Jerusalem artichoke The Jerusalem artichoke (''Helianthus tuberosus''), also called sunroot, sunchoke, wild sunflower, topinambur, or earth apple, is a species of sunflower native to central North America. It is cultivated widely across the temperate zone for its ...

is considered to replace it. Moreover, its high concentration of

carbohydrate In organic chemistry, a carbohydrate () is a biomolecule consisting of carbon (C), hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) atoms, usually with a hydrogen–oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 (as in water) and thus with the empirical formula (where ''m'' may or m ...

s makes it a better source for bio-ethanol production. Another type of cheap biofuel is created by compressing straw,

sawdust Sawdust (or wood dust) is a by-product or waste product of woodworking operations such as sawing, sanding, milling, planing, and routing. It is composed of small chippings of wood. These operations can be performed by woodworking machine ...

, and the pods of sunflowers in a crusher into granules, which are then burned. It is feasible to receive 2 cubic meters (m³) of gas from the burning of 1 kilogram (kg) of those granules. Scientists believe this will give Armenia the opportunity to provide heat for houses and to produce electricity, which would not be dependent on gas pipes or oil. Aragat - Armenia (2928580481)

The second one is biomass. Scientists share the opinion that Armenia has the most energy-diverse market in the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia (country), Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range ...

. The reason for this is that, in addition to gas and electricity used for heating, people from many towns and villages use biomass, such as wood and manure. Thus biomass pellets have large prospective as they burn cleaner, hotter, and are more conventional.

Biogas yielded from manure can be a good source for generating both heat and electricity. An example of this in Armenia is Lusakert Biogas Plant in

Nor Geghi Nor Geghi ( hy, Նոր Գեղի) is a major village in the Kotayk Province of Armenia, located around 22 km north of the capital Yerevan, near the town of Nor Hachen. As of the 2011 census, the population of the village is 5,319. Archaeolog ...

, Kotayk Marz. It was built in 2008, and is still working properly with a nominal capacity of 0.85 MW. After being built, the power plant won a National Energy Globe Award.

References

{{energy-stub

Development

Sources

Geothermal

Bioenergy

See also

References