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Alternative Energy In Armenia


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ALTERNATIVE ENERGY IN ARMENIA

 

Story and Photos Adapted from 'The Stone Garden Guide to Armenia and

Karabagh,' By Matthew Karanian and Robert Kurkjian, reprinted with

permission

 

Yerevan Times (Armenia)

November 12, 2004

 

 

Since the 1990s, Armenia has been grappling with how to resolve its energy

shortages. Nuclear power delivers about 35 percent of Armenia's energy

needs, but a government study several years ago determined that it might

be possible to develop alternative sources of energy to replace nuclear as

early as 2004.

 

If sufficient alternative sources were developed, then the nuclear power

plant could be shut down, according to an official who was the spokesman

for Armenia's President Robert Kocharian at the time.

 

People sometimes hear what they want to hear, however, and so the

scuttlebutt for years was that Armenia had made a promise to decommission

its Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant by this year. They did, sort of. The

catch, of course, was that sufficient alternative sources had to be

available, first. The year 2004 is almost over, but those alternative

sources have not been developed - at least not to the extent necessary to

serve as an alternative to nuclear power. Some progress is being made,

however, especially with wind and solar-generated projects.

 

WIND

 

Renewable energy is cleaner than the traditional sources such as nuclear

and thermal power. Solar and wind power do have an impact upon our

environment, but they don't pollute the atmosphere - unless one considers

the pollution that is emitted when the solar panels or wind turbines are

manufactured.

 

Armenia doesn't have a wind stream that is comparable to the Gulf Stream

that exists in the US, but there is nevertheless some wind potential.

Armenia is a mountainous country, and strong winds frequently develop on

mountain ridges or on the saddles of mountain passes. Some of these local

wind currents are legendary.

 

At present, the economically viable capacity for wind energy is

approximately equal to that of nuclear, about 500 MW, but wind energy

development in Armenia is in its infancy. Still, wind energy is a strong

contingency plan for Armenia. Testing is ongoing, but if wind power proves

to be feasible, then Armenia could add wind-generated electricity to its

power sources.

 

Start-up costs for establishing wind as an alternative energy source would

be insignificant compared to the cost of building a new nuclear power

plant. Building a wind farm with a 10 megawatt capacity could cost $10

million to build, and another $1 million in legal fees. A new nuclear

power plant might easily cost $1 billion. Plus, storing the radioactive

waste - it cannot be `disposed' of - is an expensive and risky business.

 

Start-up costs are only part of the equation, however. In order to be

economically feasible, a site must have consistent annual wind speeds of

roughly 8 meters per second. After the infrastructure is built, the price

of wind power depends on the wind speed at the site. At 6 meters per

second, it cannot compete with nuclear, coal or gas. But an annual wind

speed of 8 meters per second beats coal, and starts to compete with gas

and nuclear energy. At 9 meters per second wind beats them all. At this

wind velocity, wind turbines can generate electricity for as little as

three cents per kilowatt-hour, which is quite inexpensive.

 

But whereas nuclear energy might continue to be a major contributor to

Armenia's energy needs, wind might contribute no more than five percent of

the country's electricity. Wind is therefore just one important

alternative among a portfolio of energy sources.

 

SOLAR

 

Energy from the sun is more affordable than wind power for individual

residences when the power does not get added to the country's electric

grid. This is because the photo voltaic cells needed for solar power are

far too costly to be used for the national electrical grid but they are

more economical in areas that the electric grid doesn't reach.

 

Artak Hambarian, the director of a solar energy project in Yerevan,

estimates that it could take a business 20 or 30 years to earn enough

savings in energy costs to pay for its investment in solar panels that are

used to create electricity.

 

Solar is especially economical for heating water, however. This is where

solar power beats wind power. Solar energy generation capacity in Armenia

is currently around 650 MW, but estimates for future capacity are as high

as 3,500 MW. Unfortunately, says Hambarian, `this could take decades to

achieve.' Hambarian is the Director of the Engineering Research Center

(ERC) at the American University of Armenia (AUA).

 

Hambarian says it could take $10 billion to convert all of Armenia's

energy generation capacity to solar - assuming that anyone wanted to do

that. `In the future it could all be solar,' he says. `But it would be too

expensive.'

 

Limited practical applications of solar energy have proven cost-effective

for AUA, however. This University is supplied with hot water and with

heating and cooling by a project that its academic engineers from ERC are

working on.

 

A solar photovoltaic system, also installed on the roof, provides

electricity to a solar driven electric system that makes the University

building independent from the electric grid and which serves to back-up

the University internet servers.

 

WHO WILL BENEFIT FROM ALTERNATIVE ENERGY?

 

The thermal, nuclear and hydro facilities that Armenia inherited from the

Soviet Union generate so much electricity that Armenia has been able to

sell some of it to the Republic of Georgia. How might the cost of wind or

solar energy compare with the cost of the existing nuclear energy program

in Armenia? Could electricity generated by wind or solar be sold

commercially, at a profit?

 

It's difficult to compare the profitability of wind and nuclear generated

energy in Armenia, because the nuclear energy that the country generates

and sells is from a plant that was already here when the country gained

independence. Wind-generated power would include start-up expenses that

nuclear didn't have.

 

What this means is that wind might not be exploitable today, but that it

might become a better bargain when, or if, Armenia scraps nuclear power.

Over time, wind and solar productions may attract more and more donor

support from the government and from others.

 

Wind power generates about 13,000 megawatts of electricity worldwide, with

much of the increases of the past few years attributable to new

installations in Germany and Spain. At the current rate of new

construction, wind may surpass nuclear energy in total world capacity in

just a few years.

 

THE STONE GARDEN GUIDE TO ARMENIA, WRITTEN AND PHOTOGRAPHED BY TWO INSIDERS

 

The photographers and authors of this story - Robert Kurkjian and Matthew

Karanian - have traveled extensively in Armenia and have just released a

new book about the region, `The Stone Garden Guide: Armenia and Karabagh.'

 

The travel guide highlights conservation efforts in Armenia, including

efforts at adopting renewable energy technologies, among its 304 pages.

The guidebook is unique among Armenian-subject guidebooks for its

beautiful color photography, its 25 color maps, and for the insider

perspective of its authors.

 

`The Stone Garden Guide: Armenia and Karabagh' is available by mail order

from booksellers such as Amazon.com for $24.95. It is available in Yerevan

from Artbridge Caf� on Abovian Street. More information about the book is

available from www.StoneGardenProductions.com.

 

 

http://groong.usc.edu/news/msg97067.html

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