On 29 April, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Shushi Technological University Arayik Harutyunyan visited the university and delivered a lecture on "Artsakh as an Energy Independent Country" theme.

STEPANAKERT, APRIL 29,  ARTSAKHPRESS: As "Artsakhpress" reports, during the meeting Arayik Harutyunyan noted that in 2007, when was appointed as Prime Minister , two important instructions had been given to him by the President of the Republic connected with energy and food independence.

"Any country, especially when facing regional problems, highlights these two factors that are almost identical to overall security. In our case, should be especially noted the 1991-1994, when an energy crisis had been in Artsakh and Armenia, and in 2008, when oil and gas supplies had been consuming in Armenia due to the Russian-Georgian conflict.

Among energy opportunities of Artsakh, we have considered hydropower, as the solar, wind power and biomass have not promised great prospects, according to experts and current conditions. There are also other energy sources that we do not underscore today, taking into account the investment costs, "said A. Harutyunyan.

Afterwards, referring to the history of Artsakh's energy independence, Harutyunyan particularly mentioned that in 2000-2007, only 90 million kilowatt hour energy was generated in Artsakh, and the consumption was over 200 million kWh. In parallel with the construction of the first small HPP, the volumes of energy production have grown in the country, and the volume of energy produced in 2018 amounted to 388 million kWh and the consumtion-385 million kW / h:

In 2019, we expect 522 kWh of production and 385 million kWh consumption, and by 2023, we expect the production of 1 billion KWh energy and the consumption around 500 million kWh.

At the meeting Arayik Harutyunyan also answered a number of questions raised by the attendees.