Georgian electricity exports to Turkey to fall in August – TEIAS

Electricity exports from Georgia to Turkey are expected to drop dramatically to 35MW from August, a source at the Turkish grid operator TEIAS said on Monday.

Currently an average of 240MW is being imported into Turkey on the Borcka-Akhaltsikhe 400kV transmission line that was completed last year.

The capacity was expected to be ramped up to 700MW from July and remain at this level until the end of the year.

Sources active in Turkey said the capacity was being reduced because Georgia did not have enough energy to honour contractual obligations for the time being.

“There is no hydro generation [in Georgia] and it is unlikely that the shortfall is covered from transit,” a source active in Turkey said.

Neighbouring countries such as Azerbaijan and Russia have been in talks with Turkish companies about the transit of energy through Georgia into Turkey.

The source said Russian energy was costly at the moment and arbitrage opportunities were limited.

“Russian power is around $65.00/MWh (Turkish lira (TL) 138.00/MWh) at the moment,” he said. “If you add export fees, it may be as high as $80.00/MWh (TL170.00/MWh) by the time it reaches the Turkish border.”

ICIS assessed Turkish August Baseload at TL176.50/MWh on Friday.

Turkey and Georgia completed and tested the Borcka-Akhaltsikhe 400kV transmission line last year and the first commercial flows were expected to start in May following the allocation of capacity for 2014.

The start date was repeatedly delayed and the first flows started at the beginning of July.

For the summer period, when the capacity was expected to be ramped up, a total of 200GWh had been tendered and the energy was expected to come from the 1.3GW Enguri and the 200MW Vardinili power plants.

The TEIAS source said the grid operator was expecting a delegation from its Georgian counterpart within the coming days.

The Georgian system operator could not comment. Aura Sabadus