Russia has become Georgia’s main supplier of electricity. Since 2017 Azerbaijan had been occupying this position, but in 2021 the picture will change dramatically, as the share of electricity imports from Azerbaijan in total is only 29%.

In January-August this year, 1,049.4 million kWh of electricity was imported from Russia to Georgia, which is 171% more than in the same period last year.

Until now, the share of electricity imports from Russia to Georgia in total ranged from 13%-35%.

For example, in 2020, the share of Russian imports rose to 35%, and in the first eight months of this year, it amounted to 61% of total imports. Consequently, since this year, Georgia has been buying most of its electricity from Russia.

In total, 1.7 billion kWh of electricity was imported to the country during the same period, which is also a record figure for the last decade, which is 117% higher than the previous figure.

If the Namakhvani HPP was built, it would be the largest energy project in the country’s history since independence. The project was to be implemented by the largest construction company in Turkey, at a cost of $800 million.

The government, which was the main lobbyist for the project, said fears were exaggerated and that in a few years Georgia would face serious energy security challenges if new hydroelectric plants were not built.

The protest of various public groups against the construction of the Namakhvan hydroelectric power station lasted for almost a year. For several months, tents were erected near Namakhvan and activists tried to keep heavy equipment out of the construction site. In the spring, the protests moved to Tbilisi.