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Armenian occupation destroyed Nagorno-Karabakh’s economic infrastructure

4 November 2020 17:16 (UTC+04:00)
Armenian occupation destroyed Nagorno-Karabakh’s economic infrastructure

By Ayya Lmahamad

Once among Azerbaijan’s most advanced economic regions for the development of industrial areas, production of agricultural products, and a large energy infrastructure, Nagorno-Karabakh has experienced destruction and plundering of this infrastructure under the Armenian occupation, the Ministry of Energy has reported.

Before the occupation, three decades ago, there were 20 substations with a total capacity of 858.6 MVA (Shusha, Khojaly, Khojavand, Lachin, Gubadli, Jabrayil, Zangilan, Fuzuli, Kalbajar and Agdam) in 10 power grid districts of Karabakh region, the ministry said.

Three high electric power transmission lines existed in those territories, along with 2,000 km of gas lines and 34 gas distribution facilities.

Once the occupied lands are fully liberated, the destroyed and plundered infrastructure will be more accurately assessed, the ministry said.

Hydropower potential

According to the ministry’s statement, Nagorno-Karabakh is one of the main regions where local water resources are generated in Azerbaijan.

Thus, 25 percent or 2.5 billion cubic meters of water are annually generated in this area. In addition, it was stated that major rivers of the region such as Tartar, Bazarchay, Hakari and other small rivers have great water energy potential.

Moreover, there were three large hydroelectric power plants in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

One of which is Tartar hydroelectric power plant, that was built in 1976 in Tartar region together with Sarsang water reservoirs, and consist of 2 hydro-aggregates, each of which has a capacity of 25 MW. It should be noted that Sarsang is a water reservoir with one of the tallest dam in the country, and provides irrigation water for about 125,000 hectares of 6 districts- Tartar, Aghdam, Barda, Goranboy, Yevlakh and Aghjabadi. The plant has been under occupation since 1993.

The second important energy facility in the region is Khudafarin hydroelectric power plant, located 1 km north-west of Khudafarin village in Jabrayil region that has been under Armenian occupation since 1992. As a result of occupation the construction of the plant on the Azerbaijani side has been stopped, however, the construction continued on the Iranian side. It should be noted that the plant is planned to consists of 2 hydro-aggregates, each of which will have a capacity of 50 MW.

Another energy facility is Giz Galasi hydroelectric power plant, that planned to be built on the Araz river and consist of 2 hydro-aggregates, each of which is 20 MW.

It should be noted that the construction of Khudafarin hydro-junction dam is almost complete, and the works in Giz Galasi hydro-junction dam are nearing completion.

Solar energy potential

The southern plain of Karabakh- Fuzuli, Jabrayil and Zangilan regions are in the second place after the Nakhchivan AR territory in terms of the amount of solar radiation falling on the Earth’s surface. The total solar energy potential of these areas is 3,000-4,000 MW.

Wind energy potential

According to the statement, in the mountainous part of Karabakh there are wide areas with an average annual wind speed of 7-8 m/s at a height of 100 meters. Thus, the potential of wind energy in the mountainous areas of Karabakh is estimated at 300-500 MW.

Geothermal energy potential

There are 3,093 cubic meters/day thermal waters in the territory of Kalbajar district and 412 cubic meters/day in Shusha. It was noted that possible use of thermal sources for energy purposes will be studied after the relevant territories are completely liberated from the occupation.

Coal reserves

According to the statement the Chardagli village of Tartar region has 8.5 million tons of coal reserves.

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Ayya Lmahamad is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @AyyaLmahamad

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

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