Azatutyun.am. A Russian business conglomerate owned by Armenian-born billionaire Samvel Karapetian announced on Friday plans to invest at least $150 million in the construction of two thermal power plants in Armenia.
In a statement, Karapetian’s Tashir Group said one of those gas-fired plants will be built near Noyemberian, a small town close to the Armenian-Georgian border.
The 126-megawatt facility will generate electricity not only for Armenia but also Georgia, it said, adding that Tashir will upgrade dozens of kilometers of high-voltage transmission lines in both countries for that purpose.
“Work on the thermal power plant will start this year and last for about two years,” said the statement.
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It said the other, much smaller plant will be built in the central Armenian town of Hrazdan by the end of 2024.
Both facilities will be equipped with German turbines that will “reduce emissions into the atmosphere and minimize the impact on the environment,” according to Tashir.
Karapetian’s group headquartered in Moscow already owns Armenia’s largest thermal power plant also located in Hrazdan. The obsolete plant has been reportedly decommissioned in recent years.
Armenia’s electricity distribution network and second most important hydroelectric complex are also owned by Tashir. Speaking at a Russian-Armenian business held in Yerevan in 2021, Karapetian pledged to invest up to $600 million in the Armenian energy sector in the coming years.
Karapetian, 57, was born and raised in Armenia. He moved to Russia in the early 1990s, making a huge fortune there in the next two decades.
His Russian conglomerate comprises over a hundred firms engaged in construction, manufacturing, retail trade and other services. With total assets estimated by the Forbes magazine at $3.8 billion, Karapetian is apparently the richest ethnic Armenian in the world.
