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Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said that Armenia may soon face increased electricity demand, taking into account the rapid development of artificial intelligence factories in the country.
Pashinyan spoke about the matter at a press briefing on Thursday in response to a question about Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s statement that a project to build power transmission lines through Armenia to Nakhchivan is being considered as part of the TRIPP initiative.
Aliyev also said that the project would be beneficial for Armenia, as the Armenian nuclear power plant will eventually be shut down, creating a need for electricity, and the project could provide an alternative source of electricity for Armenia.
Pashinyan clarified that two aspects should be taken into account regarding energy trade.
“Until quite recently, we were talking about Armenia having a surplus of electricity. Now we need to talk about Armenia potentially having electricity demand because, as you can see, artificial intelligence factories are developing rapidly, and they consume electricity on a scale beyond our imagination. Of course, at this point, nothing has fundamentally changed in our overall situation, but the plans that investors have, particularly regarding the construction of new artificial intelligence factories in Armenia, are forcing us to revisit our energy strategies so that we have sufficient capacity to meet these new conditions and expectations,” Pashinyan said.
He emphasized that the Armenian government’s strategy is to achieve “100% energy independence.”
“How? Through the development of solar power plants and energy storage facilities. Armenia is more than rich in solar resources. But this does not mean that we will withdraw from international electricity trade. Sometimes we may export, sometimes import, including potentially having a partnership and cooperation with Azerbaijan in terms of exporting and importing electricity, as with all other countries — Türkiye, Iran, Georgia, and so on,” Pashinyan said.