I want to state very clearly that Armenia is adopting a strategy of achieving energy independence. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Monday stated this at the National Assembly while presenting the upcoming five-year program of Armenia’s new government.

“This is more than realistic, it has become realistic quite recently, due to the development of renewable—particularly, solar—energy. Armenia has a huge solar resource, and we have developed this resource in the figures of 2018. Please pay attention to the figures of 2018. Today, instead of 16 megawatts, we have 1,213 megawatts of solar power plants, and now, in order to ensure the further development of this process, we will launch the establishment of electricity storage facilities in the Republic of Armenia, so that they, collecting solar energy produced during the day, supply us with the necessary electricity at night.

Of course, this process will take time, and we plan to have at least an 800-megawatt storage plant by 2031, which is about twice the installed capacity of the operating nuclear power plant. Within the next year, we must decide, once and for all, with whom and what kind of nuclear power plant we will build, because, as you know, the resource of the operating nuclear power plant runs out in 2036.

By the way, Armenia assumed the closure of the nuclear power plant as a de jure obligation before the revolution [in 2018], during the previous authorities, in 2017.

Although, I must say that developing technologies may enable to extend the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant’s operating period once again after 2036, and we have been discussing this with potential partners for quite some time. Such a decision, of course, will be made only in close cooperation and agreement with competent international structures. We have been working on this topic for quite some time.

Energy is a sector where developments are more than dynamic, and we need to explore all possibilities for generating electricity in our country—starting with geothermal technologies and ending with green hydrogen. By the way, hydrogen production is already being tested and used in many countries as an alternative to natural gas, because global natural gas reserves will be depleted at some point in the future," added the Armenian PM.