GEORGIA: ATURAL ENERGY RESOURCES
Abstract
This article examines Georgia’s natural fuel and energy resources (FER), both conventional (hydropower, oil, gas, coal) and non-conventional (alternative). Special attention is paid to hydropower and to alternative energy sources. The author assesses the current level of their development in the republic.
Generally speaking, Georgia is not very rich in FER, but almost all kinds of these resources are found in its territory in greater or lesser amounts. Despite its limited reserves of fossil fuel, the republic cannot be regarded as a region poor in energy resources in general, because its rivers hold huge amounts of hydropower, largely compensating for the fuel shortage in the country. Another reason is that Georgia is rich in alternative energy sources (sun, thermal waters, wind, etc.).
An approximate structure of the country’s conventional FER is presented in Fig. 1, which shows that hydropower makes up the main part of both potential (theoretical) resources and proven (established balance) reserves (64.1% and 80.8%, respectively). Altogether, potential resources add up to 6.4 billion tons of oil equivalent (toe), and established balance reserves, to 2.6 billion toe.
These energy resources (together with alternative resources) constitute Georgia’s total energy potential, which should basically ensure the development of the republic’s energy sector.
Nevertheless, the FER development level in Georgia is currently very low
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References
Compiled from the materials of the Georgian Institute of Economics.
See: Prirodnye resursy Gruzii, Moscow, 1962-1964, and the materials of the State Statistics Department of Georgia.
See: Materials of the Commission for the Study of Productive Forces (KEPS) under the Presidium of the Georgian Academy of Sciences.
Compiled from the data of the Georgian HydroProject Institute.
Compiled from the materials of the Georgian Academy of Sciences.
Compiled from the data of the State Geology Department of Georgia.
See: Prirodnye resursy Gruzii. Toplivnye resursy, Vol. V, Moscow, 1963.
Ibid., p. 90.
Ibid., p. 252.
See: Proceedings of the Institute of Economics and Planning, Tbilisi, 1972, p. 193 (in Georgian).
See: Proceedings of the Institute of Economics and Planning, Tbilisi, 1972, p. 193.
See: G. Svanidze et al., Vozobnovliaemye energoresursy Gruzii, Leningrad, 1987.
See: Wind Energy Atlas of Georgia, Tbilisi, 2004.
See: Main Lines of State Policy in the Energy Sector of Georgia, Tbilisi, June 2006 (in Georgian).
See: The Energy Strategy of Georgia, Tbilisi, 2004, p. 183 (in Georgian).
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