YEREVAN, JULY 12, ARMENPRESS. The level of diversification of Armenia’s energy system is such that in case of any scenario the representatives of the field will find solutions, Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan told reporters in the Parliament.

Asked whether Armenia has a reserve option to avoid problems in energy system if US imposes sanctions on Iran and problems emerge, the deputy PM said: “I think our energy diversification level is such today that the representatives of the sector will find solutions in case of any scenario”.

In response to the question whether the energy system may suffer fluctuations due to the neighbor state, he said technical risks, of course, exist, they always exist and have nothing to do with our political relations. The deputy PM assured that there are mechanisms which restrain these risks. “The recent events showed that the energy system is technically equipped enough to neutralize certain technical shocks”, he said.

Asked what Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan means by saying that one of the two versions linked with the problem is external, Grigoryan said the talk is about the external technical circumstances.

“The energy systems of the countries are not turned off and are not local. They are interconnected with at least the countries in the region. And when a technical fluctuation occurs in one of these countries, this, of course, has a certain technical impact on the system of the next country. At the moment there is a preliminary version according to which a technical fluctuation occurred in our neighbor country which also affected the overall technical situation of our energy system. But I cannot give a final answer yet because a working group has been formed to examine the issue, let’s wait for the conclusions and then will discuss this issue”, he said.

On July 10, at around 13:00, power fluctuations were recorded across the Republic.

Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran Avinyan informed that an accident has been registered in the energy system. “Yerevan Thermal Power Plant and the 5th energy block of Hrazdan TPP are switched off. Electricity shutdowns are possible across the Republic. Works are being done to solve the problem till 19:00”, he said.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan