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Hydropower development in Georgia

Georgia plans to build a huge number of dams. Yet with 85 percent of electricity needs satisfied and exports not being taxed, these plans will rather benefit private investors than offering sustainable development for Georgia.


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Hydropower in Georgia - Quick facts

installed capacity:
3500 MW
(= 25% of available capacity - Source)

annual output:
appr. 8.5 TWh
share of domestic electricity needs:
85 percent (Source)
potential capacity:
estimated with 80 TWh (27 TWh economically viable)

Blessed with staggering mountains, Georgia has a largely unexploited hydropower potential (see quick facts) on which private investors, the Georgian government and international lenders have set their sight.

Experience and ongoing monitoring shows that while some hydropower projects would only bring marginal, if any, benefits for locals, the risks associated with them are largely being underestimated or ignored.

Read the briefing:
Hydropower in Georgia - Impacts on communities, the environment and the economy (pdf)
 

Large dams versus local communities

Khudoni

By far the most controversial hydropower project in Georgia is the Khudoni dam. It will interfere with a rich cultural heritage and 2000 people will have to be forcefully resettled.

At the same time the opaque ownership of the project company (registered in a tax haven) and its contractual obligations make the purported benefits of the 702 MW project doubtful.

Read more:
Detailed background, images and updates on the Khudoni hydropower plant.

A historical view on the Georgian energy sector, the effects on local communities and the role of international financial institutions.

 

Nenskra

Not far from the site for Khudoni, another controversial large dam project, the 280 MW Nenskra hydropower plant, is being planned. It is the most advanced of Georgia's massive plans for hydropower installations in the Upper Svaneti region. It will deprive the local community of ethnic Svans of lands and livelihoods, but potential negative impacts have not been properly assessed.

More on Nenskra

 

A cascade of projects

An interactive map of planned hydro installations in the Upper Svaneti region shows how dense and without strategic planning these investments have appeared.

Explore the map

 

Geological hazards in mountain areas

Landslides happened at the site of the Dariali hydropower construction. (Original image by Iago Kazalikashvili.)

Also smaller projects like the Dariali (pdf) and the Shuakhevi (pdf) HPPs can pose substantial risks, even when no dams have to be built.

Apart from damaging the rivers' biodiversity, the projects are being constructed without proper assessment of the geological conditions. Two fatal landslides in the Dariali Gorge revealed the irresponsible decision-making by the investors and the Georgian government.

Read more

Second fatal landslide in Georgian Dariali valley
Blog post | August 22, 2014

 

Below: See an Al Jazeera report on Georgian hydropower constructions in seismically active areas.

 

Resettlement and lack of legal protection

Involuntary resettlement in Georgia - an overview

Download the study

Georgian communities that face hydropower projects have difficulties protecting their rights as affected stakeholders and landowners.

  • Georgia’s legislation does not address the issue of involuntary resettlement caused by infrastructure projects.
  • The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) system is ineffective in Georgia, both in terms of providing the public with information and opportunities for public participation (pdf).
  • An unclear legal rights regime offers no or minimal protection for communities that make customary use of land that traditionally was in their hands. Unregistered land plots can literally be grabbed by investors for infrastructure projects.

In addition to the threat of losing their land or being resettled, farmers may have to face reduced access to water for irrigation or higher risk of flooding due to dam constructions. Both exposes them to an increased food insecurity.

Institution: EBRD, World Bank Group, ADB

Theme: Social & economic impacts, Other harmful projects

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Latest developments

 

Systematic shortcomings will deprive people affected by Georgian dam of compensation
Blog entry | September 11, 2017

An assessment of livelihoods of people to be affected by the Nenskra hydropower plant in Georgia contains mistakes that will lead to significant losses for locals.

Caucasus, EU neighbourhood, hydropower, indigenous people, land rights, livelihoods, resettlement, Svaneti
The true colours of Svaneti - A festival in the stunning Georgian mountains
Blog entry | August 30, 2017

Despite the remote location, the culture festival We Are Svaneti brought together people from three continents and helped young Svans to become aware of their communities’ unique traditions.

Caucasus, culture, hydropower, indigenous people, resettlement, Svaneti, tradition
Women and hydropower: exacerbating vulnerability without resettlement
Blog entry | June 19, 2017

The disproportionate impacts that the Nenskra hydropower project in Georgia will have on women are not being assessed by the project company, in spite of its financiers’ standards.

Caucasus, Chuberi, energy, farming, gender, hydropower, local impacts, Nakra, women
Powerline to nowhere: Georgian villages take stand against badly routed transmission lines
Blog entry | June 13, 2017

Mountain villages in the country’s northeast protest for changes to the routing of high voltage lines in a series of local protests.

Caucasus, EU neighbourhood, Green Alternative, hydropower, Kaladze, protest, transmission lines
Who really benefits from Georgia's Nenskra hydropower plant?
Blog entry | May 4, 2017

Today the Asian Development Bank started its annual meeting and one of the projects that we will be discussing with the bank’s management and Board of Directors is a loan for the 280 megawatt Nenskra hydropower plant in the Svaneti region of Georgia. The ADB is planning to provide a loan of USD 176.70 million and a Political Risk Guarantee over USD 100.00 million for Nenskra, with a total cost of the project of USD 930 million.

Caucasus, confidentiality, EU neighbourhood, public funding, transparency

Publications

Failing local communities - the Land Assessment and Livelihoods Restoration Plan for the Nenskra dam
Study | September 11, 2017

A field investigation conducted by CEE Bankwatch Network in the Nenskra and Nakra valleys in Upper Svaneti in Georgia during two visits in July 2017 has found evidence that the Land Acquisition and Livelihood Restoration Plan (LALRP) developed by the project company JSC Nenkra Hydro is inaccurate and fails to properly map, assess and provide adequate compensation for people affected by the project, especially for those that are significantly and severely affected by the planned Nenskra hydropower plant.

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Gender impacts of the Shuakhevi hydropower project in Georgia and its compliance with EBRD requirements
Study | October 31, 2016

A majority of the local population protests against the construction of the Shuakhevi HPP for various reasons, including issues related to land and water “grabbing”, geological risks posed by construction works, employment
problems, etc.

The purpose of this study is to assess the project’s gender impacts on the affected population as well as to evaluate whether the project related documentation and construction process meets the requirements of international financial institutions.

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Georgia swept by protests against EBRD-backed hydropower
Briefing | May 11, 2016

Protests have in recent weeks broken out across rural Georgia after construction resumed on several large hydropower projects financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Demonstrators have complained that the projects were repeatedly decided behind closed doors, and that poor assessments of the social and environmental consequences mean their livelihoods are under threat.

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Declaration of local community in Kaishi to cancel contract for Georgian Khudoni dam
Advocacy letter | March 9, 2016

In this declaration, the community of Khaishi, a village in the mountains in north west Georgia, called for a the cancellation of the contract for the construction of the 700MW Khudoni dam. Khaishi residents demand the recognition of customary land rights and the inclusion of Svans into the decision-making over the project.

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Briefing on Nenskra hydropower plant for the European Investment Bank
Briefing | February 25, 2016

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is in the early stage of assessing a loan for the 280 megawatt Nenskra hydropower plant, located on the Nenskra and Nakra rivers in the Caucasus mountain valleys inhabited by ethnic Svans. The poor quality assessment of the project, together with the neglect of the opinion of locals, threatens to aggravate the fading public acceptance of hydropower. With this project, the EIB and other potential international financiers have a chance to insist on changes to the imprudent course hydropower developments have taken in Georgia and to request tighter environmental and social regulations.

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Hydropower in Georgia - Quick facts

installed capacity:
3500 MW
(= 25% of available capacity - Source)

annual output:
appr. 8.5 TWh
share of domestic electricity needs:
85 percent (Source)
potential capacity:
estimated with 80 TWh (27 TWh economically viable)

 

Study: Off balance

Our study reviews the development of greenfield hydro projects in Georgia and explores how current energy sector trends in the country relate - or don't relate - to sustainable energy principles.

Download as pdf