Does Racha need a cascade of hydropower plants?
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Friday, May 15
The Caucasus Office of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) publishes its position on the development of hydropower and protected areas in Georgia. Due to the recent construction of hydropower plants in Racha and the difficult situation in the protected areas, WWF expressed general position and the views on the situation in Racha.
“The general position of the WWF regarding the construction of hydropower plants is well known: the right HPP - the right place,” reads the statement. As further explained, ‘righteous HPP’ means built with the latest, environmentally friendly and minimally harmful technologies, and ‘right place’ means taking into account the results of strategic planning and all 3 components of sustainable development: not only technical-economic, but also socio-cultural and ecological.
Thus, WWF opposes all hydropower projects whose planning and development do not meet internationally recognised standards and best practices.
WWF Caucasus Office lists 4 main reasons for why the organisation believes that Racha and the river Rioni HPP is not the right place to build: the region is generally a seismically overly sensitive geological balance, which increases the risk of possible catastrophic developments;
Rioni floodplains are of international ecosystem importance (this type of habitat is included in the relevant list of the Berne Convention);
The river Rioni is an ecosystem of high conservation value - one of the few rivers in the world where sturgeon-endangered species are still breeding in the natural conditions. In this sense, the river. Rioni is the only and irreplaceable one on the east coast of the Black Sea Basin. The construction and operation of an additional hydropower cascade on the Rioni will further jeopardize the already reduced habitat areas for sturgeon and ultimately protect and maintain sturgeon;
The unparalleled damage will be done to the genetic diversity, which in this region is characterised by unique agro-biodiversity and the natural-cultural heritage, namely - the rarest, unique varieties of vines in the world. In addition, the tourist potential of Racha will be reduced by one tenth, claims WWF statement.
“Racha does not need a cascade of HPPs, it needs a big national park - nature will be protected, land will not be alienated (forest, pasture), people will be satisfied with firewood or other biological resources and, at the same time, locals will be employed in the park and the national park (as a ‘brand’) will attract thousands of tourists,” says WWF CAUPO, noting that the establishment of the park was planned considering technical requests of the government, yet it has not been established.
JSC Oni Cascade, the project implementing company issued the announcement after the statement of political parties, non-governmental organisations as well as media coverage, calling all information false. They wrote that the construction of Oni Cascade is clearly designed for high seismicity and that a detailed seismic survey has been carried out, in particular, by the leading European company Studer Engineering GmbH.
JSC argues that a number of important HPPs have already been built in the high seismic zone of Georgia, including the Shaori and Lajanuri HPPs with their reservoirs and writes:
“None of the HPPs were damaged, neither for the environment nor for the local population during the powerful earthquake that struck in 1991.” Rioni will not dry up and Oni will not turn into a desert - we read in the statement of JSC Oni Cascade. The argument is as follows:
Both hydropower plants will take part of the water from the Rioni River near the main building. The remaining water is also added to the hydro resources of numerous tributaries of the Rioni, which in total is more than sufficient during the water shortage period, for the smooth operation of the local flora and fauna in winter.
During the flood season (spring-autumn), the water taken by the HPP will be almost unnoticed, so much water comes naturally into the river.
The next issue is landslide-prone areas. Here, too, Oni Cascade calls it a lie that the project’s geology was only done by taking aerial photographs, and the project will negatively affect active landslide areas. They claim that detailed geological surveys have been conducted three times, all important sites have been drilled and all the necessary laboratory tests have been performed.
Then comes the fate of mineral springs in the village of Utsera. Environmentalists are talking about the danger of the disappearance of these waters.
“Based on the hydrogeological studies and also taking into account the Oni 1 HPP tunnel in the village the distance from the inscription is 2.4 km, the negative impact of the project on the mineral waters is minimized,” it says, adding that all mineral or drinking water manifestations have been studied and recorded. Detailed monitoring of mineral and drinking water will be carried out during construction and operation, which will also be strictly controlled by the Ministry of Environment and Agriculture.
The Oni HPP Cascade Project includes two HPPs - Oni 1 HPP and Oni 2 HPP. The total installed capacity of the project is 206.1 MW, and the planned average annual electricity production is 780 million kWh, which is more than 6% of Georgia's annual electricity consumption. The total investment of the project is $ 330 million. Georgian Co-Investment Fund owns 10% of the project, and 90% of the shares belong to the company, "Feri" Ltd.
Criticism that the project will not have a positive impact and socio-economic benefits, JSC Oni Cascade at the end of the statement also lists several factors in terms of response and benefits: Strengthening the country's energy independence; Imports of electricity reduced by several hundred million kWh during the winter; Property tax paid annually in the local municipality budget, which is 1% of the total investment; Employment of 300-400 local residents at different stages of construction and employment of 100-150 local residents after commissioning.
And yet members of the movement against the Oni HPPs, activists and part of the local population (including Racha Community Organization) are opposing it. Movement ‘No to Oni Cascade’ is in the process of preparing a lawsuit - they plan to sue in court and thus obstruct the process and to hold a protest rally in Racha as soon as the state of emergency ends.
Levan Davitashvili, the Minister of Environment and Agriculture, called the statements of the representatives of specific political parties and non-governmental organizations regarding the construction of the Oni HPP cascade disinformation, irresponsible and treacherous, which were recently spread by the media.
“All the information provided to the population by the media was a lie, absolutely everyone,” he said on May 12th.
Other members of the government responded to the story of Oni Cascade. For example, Roman Kakulia, chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Sectoral Economics and Economic Policy, said: “We get a kilowatt hour. And the property tax, which will be consumed locally by the population, will be ?8 million. ”
Economy Minister Natia Turnava, whose ministry is to issue the final construction permit for Oni HPPs, said the Oni HPP project is safe, employs people and “makes a significant contribution to the country's energy independence.”
Davitashvili issued an environmental decision on March 17th, 2020 (Order N2-256) on the construction and operation of a cascade of Oni hydroelectric power plants in Oni Municipality, on the Rioni River.
It has also been reported that Bidzina Ivanishvili's interests are behind the Oni cascade, which was denied by Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia in the May 11th statement.
