MINISTRY OF ECONOMY
AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
OF GEORGIA

Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, Natia Turnava visited the newly constructed Shilda HPP-1 and got familiar with the working process. The Head of the Energy Development Fund, Giorgi Chikovani and the State Representative in Kakheti Region, Irakli Kadagishvili accompanied the Deputy Minister to the Shilda HPP.

The HPP is located on the river Chelta in the village of Shilda of the Kvareli Municipality, which was put into operation couple of months ago. It is a small power plant with an installed capacity of 1,2 megawatt, the annual production of the station is 8,7 million KWh. The volume of investments made by the Hydro Energy company equals to 1 800 000 USD for the construction of the HPP. It should be noted that the construction of the HPP engaged 50 local employees, and 12 local residents were employed after the HPP was put into service. The Shilda HPP-1 will pay up to 40,000 GEL annually to the Municipal budget.

The Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development noted, that Shilda HPP is a small but a very important station not only to the village Shilda, but to the whole Municipality of Kvareli. “This is a eco-friendly, so called “green hpp”. Such power plants are the basis for the energy independence of Georgia. I congratulate the investor on implementation of such a successful project in the Kakheti Region. We will open many other similar projects this year,” – Natia Turnava noted.

According to the Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, it is especially important that the investor actively works on the implementation of social projects - in particular at this stage the beekeeping farm with 200 apiaries been established, where 10 local residents are employed.

The Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development will visit other newly constructed HPPs in future and examine their operation.