The Namakhvani Hydropower Cascade is a system of two plants with a total capacity of 433 MW and a potential yearly generation of 1496 mln. kWh (around 13% of the total generation in 2020). The HPP has been designed for the river Rioni, to be built just 20 kilometers or so from Kutaisi, one of the largest cities in Georgia. The project is operated by the Norwegian Clean Energy Group, with 10% shares, and the Turkish industrial conglomerate, ENKA Insaat ve Sanayi AS, holding 90%.

In March 2021, Georgian power plants generated 661 mln. kWh of electricity. This represents a 24% decrease in total generation, compared to the previous year (March 2020, the total generation was 867 mln. kWh). The decrease in generation on a yearly basis comes from the decrease of 33% in hydropower generation, however, the generation of thermal and wind power have increased by 16% and 0.9%, respectively.

In January 2021, Georgian power plants generated 808 mln. kWh of electricity. This represents an 22% decrease in total generation, compared to the previous year (January 2020, the total generation was 1,031 mln. kWh). The decrease in generation on a yearly basis comes from the decrease of 2%, 38% and 36% in hydro, thermal and wind power generation, respectively.

In the first and second quarters of 2020, Georgian power plants generated 2,893 mln. and 2,797 mln. kWh of electricity, respectively (Figure 1). This represents a 1.5% and 9.7% decrease in total generation compared to the corresponding periods of the previous year (in 2019, the total generation in Q1 was 2,936 mln. kWh and 3,097 mln. kWh in Q2).

In 2020, Georgian power plants generated 11,160 mln. kWh of electricity. This represents a 6% decrease in total generation, compared to the previous year (in 2019, total generation was 11,865 mln. kWh). The decrease in generation on a yearly basis comes from decrease in hydro (-8%) and thermal power (-1%), more than offsetting the increase in wind power generation (+7%).