In October 2024, the third annual field meeting of the Advisory Council on Environmental and Social Issues of the Bakhvi HPP management and company was held in Kazbegi. During the visit, council members toured the small hydropower plants Aragvi HPP and Aragvi HPP 2, which were built and are currently operated by the Georgian-Austrian company, Energo Aragvi LLC.
The council members also visited the 108 MW Dariali HPP, which generates 500 million kWh of electricity annually. The HPP is implemented by Dariali Energy JSC.
During the session, Bakhvi HPP's Director, Giorgi Abramishvili, provided council members with an update on the construction progress and the upcoming plans. Mariam Vachnadze, the Environmental and Social Officer, delivered a presentation on the ongoing environmental and social projects, elaborating on research and monitoring activities. She also shared the results of quarterly studies conducted by independent experts, alongside mitigation measures implemented by the company’s environmental team in accordance with an action plan developed by international researchers.
"Our priority is responsible construction, ensuring the implementation and monitoring of the action plan on environmental and social issues, which was developed by international experts at the project's initial research phase. Our environmental and social team meticulously follows this plan, implementing every initiative outlined in it, as detailed in the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) document. Quarterly, independent experts conduct assessments, while our team focuses on implementing the mitigation measures. It's encouraging to note that the results reported by the researchers confirm that the construction activities are maintaining habitats that are suitable for both wildlife and birds," said Mariam Vachnadze, Environmental and Social Officer of Bakhvi HPP.
The fourth and final meeting of the Advisory Council for 2024 is scheduled for December.
Aragvi HPP, located near Gudauri in the Kazbegi municipality on the Tergi River, has been operational since autumn 2013. It has an installed capacity of 8.66 MW and an annual production of 45-50 million kWh. The station is equipped with high-quality European equipment and control systems. Aragvi HPP 2, also located in the Kazbegi municipality, became operational in 2019. It has an installed capacity of 1.95 MW and an annual production of 12-13.5 million kWh.
დარიალი ჰესი Dariali HPP, operational since 2017, is a 108 MW hydroelectric power plant situated in northeastern Georgia, in Kazbegi, along the Tergi River. The plant collects water from the river and channels it through a derivation tunnel to the main facility, located at an altitude of 1,334 meters, just 1.2 kilometers from the Georgia-Russia border. The HPP's annual stable output is 500 million kWh.