The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing a 28 million euro sovereign loan to modernise and rehabilitate the Enguri hydropower plant, Georgia’s largest electricity plant. The financing extended to the plant’s operating company, Engurhesi will be complemented by a grant of 7.05 million euros from the European Union.
This financing package will fund long-term structural stability works of the Enguri dam, repairs to the underground tunnel and penstock to ensure a more reliable power generation and grid system. In addition, the investment will reduce water leakages in the headrace tunnel and enable additional renewable energy production. The funds will also be used to construct vital infrastructure, such as roads to monitor the dam, improve the safety and reliability of the electricity grid and energy generation, as well as create a fish passage downstream of the Enguri dam.
Built in the 1970s, an energy complex comprising the Enguri hydropower plant and the Vardnili hydropower plants meets approximately 30 per cent of the nation’s electricity needs and are key to the country’s energy infrastructure, providing a steady supply of power and stimulating economic growth.