A conference to scale-up geothermal energy launched in Florence, Italy on September 11-12, organized by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). The Deputy Minister of Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources of the RA Hayk Harutyunyan and the Director of Armenia Renewable Resources and Energy Efficiency Fund Armen Melkikyan attended the Conference.
The conference aimed to discuss all the necessary actions to ensure sustainable development of geothermal energy sector, in particular to facilitate experience exchange between the parties, to provide technical assistance, advisory and capacity building activities.
During the conference a number of issues were discussed dedicated to sustainable development of geothermal energy. Deputy Minister Hayk Harutyunyan had a speech at the Ministerial Roundtable and introduced the Energy Sector of Armenia, in particular Geothermal Exploratory Drilling Investment Project implemented by the World Bank support and financing.
Deputy Minister of Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources of the RA Hayk Harutyunyan and director of R2E2 Fund Armen Melkikyan had number of meetings with the representatives of the sector. A meeting was held with the director of “Enel” Carlo Pignoloni. “ENEL” is the largest and leading investment company in the geothermal energy sector in Italy. During the meeting, the Armenian delegation presented Armenia’s renewable energy sector, intending to attract investments in Armenian market within the project framework.
A cooperation agreement was reached with the company, and the representatives of the company will visit Armenia to get acquainted with the “Geothermal Exploratory Drilling Project” in place. Another meeting was held with the president of “Arctic Cycle”, H. E. Olafur Grimsson, the former president of Iceland. Mr. Olafur Grimsson will visit Armenia to exchange his experience in support of the scaling- up the renewable energy sector in Armenia.
Within the framework of the visit, the meeting was held with the Executive Director of the International Geothermal Association (IGA), Dr. Marit Brommer in the end of the meeting the R2E2 Fund reached an agreement to collaborate with the Association .
In the course of the meeting with Mr. Adnan Z. Amin, IRENA Director-General,the latest developments in energy sector of Armenia were discussed, in particular, the “Utility scale solar PV project”, the “Geothermal Exploratory Drilling Project” and the wind farm projects. As a result of the meeting, a decision was made to forward Armenia’s accession process to the Global Geothermal Alliance.
On the second day of the conference, the participants visited the first-ever geothermal energy production plant in Larderello in Tuscany, built in 1913.
At the end of the conference, a memorandum was signed entitled: “Working Together to Promote Geothermal Energy towards a Sustainable Energy Future”.