In our two-part article we discuss how combining wind and hydropower can help the Republic of Georgia to achieve energy independence and become a net energy exporter. OVERVIEW Due to the geomorphological characteristics of its territory and to its geographical location, the Republic of Georgia is rich in hydro resources. According to the Georgian Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, so far Georgia has been exploiting only about 20% of its hydro resource potential. Since 2006 the Georgian government has been planning to utilize these resources to not...

Khudoni, Georgia’s largest hydropower investment project, is again making the headlines.  According to a recent statement by Georgia’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Kakha Kaladze, the project will be put on hold at least until March 1, 2014. To give readers a bit of context, Khudoni’s planned capacity is in excess of 700 MW; its annual generation potential stands at about 1,5 TW/h, dwarfing other hydropower projects currently under MoUs with international investors. If built, Khudoni would be the second largest HPP in Georgia after Enguri...

Large gaps exist between male and female wages across the world. Eurostat data about the unadjusted Gender Pay Gap (GPG) represent the difference between average gross hourly earnings of male and female paid employees as a percentage of average gross hourly earnings of male paid employees. In 2011, in the EU, women earned 16.2 percent less per hour compared to men.  The difference varies from 2.3% for Slovenia till 27.3 % for Estonia. The Worldbank Development Report on Gender Equality analyzed data of sixty-four developing and developed countries a...

I was happy to see that my blog post “Who needs a safety net?” stimulated a lively debate, which was exactly its purpose. However, so many points have been raised that I have decided to write a new post on the topic rather than answering to each one of them separately. Johannes Jütting (Head of the Poverty Reduction section at the OECD Development Center in Paris) argues in an article recently published by The Georgian Times in its online version that “rising inequality, lack of civic participation, political apathy, and a dearth of good jobs, particular...

One of the definitions of a safety net that one can find on the internet is the following: “a net placed to catch an acrobat or similar performer in case of a fall”. This brings to my mind images of thrilling performances I saw at the circus when I was a child. I have to admit in most cases a safety net was used. It was only removed on some rare occasions, and the increased tension became palpable. We knew that only the best acrobats could dare perform in those conditions because even a slight mistake or distraction could lead to disastrous conseque...