Paravani

completed

Georgia Urban Enerji Ltd (GUE), intends to build and operate an 87 MW run-of-river Hydro Power Plant (HPP), on the Paravani River, near the town of Ahalkalaki, Georgia. The project Sponsors are the Anadolu Group, one of the leading Turkish conglomerates. The rights to develop the Project are held by GUE, a Georgian special purpose vehicle owned 100% by the Sponsors. The project area is located in the Samstkhe-Javakheti Region of southern Georgia, close to the Turkish border. In addition to power generation facilities, the Project includes a conveyance tunnel of 13.8 km and a 32 km, 220 kV double circuit transmission line (T-line) linking the project to the new 500 kV Georgia-Turkey interconnector near Akhaltsikhe. The Project will supply electricity to the Georgian market in the three consecutive winter months, expected to be January, February and March, and export power to the Turkish market in the remaining nine months of the year. The total Project cost is estimated at US$ 156.5 million. The Project will be financed by IFC, EBRD and TSKB, a Turkish bank (as an IFC/EBRD B lender). The proposed IFC investment consists of an A Loan for up to $37.5 million, or 24% of Project cost. The project will consist of a 5 m high concrete gravity weir with a small (4000 m3, 0.5 ha) impoundment, a 13.8 km long power tunnel, a 1 km long penstock and a powerhouse with switchyard. The scheme will exploit a gross head of 420 m and the power house will have two Francis turbines. The intake structure will be located on the Paravani River a short distance downstream of the confluence with Korkhistskali Stream, at an elevation of around 1550 m. The small impoundment will not be designed for storage purposes and will store around five minutes worth of river flow. River diversion works during construction of the weir will include a bridge across the Paravani River to access the left bank, a 189 m concrete diversion channel on the right bank adjacent to the road, a 6 m high upstream coffer dam (temporary barrier excluding water from a river section to allow construction) and a 6 m high downstream coffer dam.The Paravani River is 66 km long and stretches from its source, Lake Paravani, to the Mtkvari River – also known as the Kura River - and the proposed weir site is located 53 km downstream from the lake. The weir site is located in a steep valley adjacent to a paved road and is remote from any settlements, the nearest of which is located high above the valley floor on top of the plateau. With flows ranging from only 6 to 30 m3/sec, the 13 km stretch of river downstream of the weir which will be most affected by the project is not currently utilized for drinking, livestock watering or irrigation purposes and is not currently inhabited. Two fish farms, one of which has a micro-hydro power plant utilizing a tributary stream, are located in this so called by-passed (or depleted) section, from which much of the usual flow will be diverted into the power tunnel. The powerhouse and switchyard will be located on a terrace on the right bank of the Mtkvari River approximately 1.5 km upstream of the confluence of the Mtkvari and Paravani Rivers and adjacent to a main road. Water will reach the powerhouse via the power tunnel, a surge tank and the penstock which will fall steeply from near the top of the plateau to the powerhouse site. Water will be discharged into the Mtkvari River via a tailrace canal.