In March 2022, Georgian power plants generated 1,077 mln. kWh of electricity (Figure 1). This represents a 63% increase in total generation, compared to the previous year (in March 2021, the total generation was 661 mln. kWh).

Food Loss and Waste (FLW) is one of the critical issues related to waste management in Georgia. A large amount of food still suitable for human consumption is wasted by Food Business Operators (FBOs) and large food retailers in particular due to the packaging or quality issues, expiration date, excess supply and consumption habits, which results in significant economic losses for these FBOs.

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).

The COVID-19 outbreak has negatively affected the Georgian economy through a reduction in FDI, exports of goods and services, and remittances. In addition, uncertainties caused by the pandemic and containment measures hit consumption and domestic investment. As a result of this reduction in aggregate demand, combined with increased production costs due to pandemic-related constraints, GDP is expected to contract by 5% in 2020 according to NBG’s latest monetary report.

In April 2020, total generation and consumption nearly balanced (944 mln kWh of generation and 941 mln kWh of consumption), with power generation exceeding consumption by only 3 mln. kWh (corresponding to 0.3% of total generation: Figure 1). This occurred due to the simultaneous decrease in total consumption (7%) and total generation (2%). Interestingly, over the same period, wind power generation increased by a remarkable 23% compared to April 2019.