Shuakhevi HPP’s Investment in Local Students’ Education
Today, Prashant Josh, the CEO of Adjaristsqali Georgia LLC (AGL), met with local students who had received scholarships from the Shuakhevi Hydropower Plant (HPP) project as part of its corporate social responsibility program.
“The Shuakhevi HPP project has been proudly funding local students’ education in leading Georgian universities for the last five years. The goal of today’s meeting was to listen to each of these students to find out what plans they had, how our financial support has contributed to their success, and what recommendations they had for educational projects to support in the future. I believe it was quite an interesting and productive meeting,” stated Prashant Josh, the CEO of Adjaristsqali Georgia.
Interview with Prashant Joshi – CEO of “Adjaristsqali Georgia”
Construction is nearly complete on the Shuakhevi Hydropower Plant (HPP), which will soon begin testing and commercial operation. Test operation at the 9 MW Skhalta HPP is planned for the end of November 2019. The main 178 MW Shuakhevi HPP will go into operation at 50% capacity at the beginning of 2020. Both plants will be fully operational by the spring of 2020.
Within the “April Cool” campaign, on April 1 Adjaristsqali Georgia team planted trees on Zamleti Spoil Disposal Area. In particular, the Company representatives planted forty saplings of Oak and Walnut trees. The purpose of the event was to support the restoration of the forest and the construction site.
On March 4 a Fire Safety Training was conducted at Shuakhevi HPP which consisted of theoretical as well as practical parts. Representatives of the Company Ltd “Fire Safety and Service” provided information to operational team as well as camp security personnel on topics such as management of emergency situations, evacuation of personnel during fire, classification of fire and fire extinguishers, also hydropower ventilation and fire safety systems.
On February 19-20 AGL CEO Mr. Prashant Joshi participated in the 3rd Annual International Congress and Exhibition: Hydropower Caspian and Central Asia 2019 in Tbilisi. The event served as a professional venue for high-level participants to discuss key energy topics and exchange knowledge and experience for hydropower construction and operation in the Caspian and Central Asia region. Mr. Joshi gave presentation about the Social and Environmental Responsibility in the context of HPP construction and operation on example of the Shuakhevi hydropower project. More than 150 guests from different countries attended the Congress.
Adjaristsqali Georgia LLC started awareness raising and informational meetings with school children of the affected communities. On December 21 a meeting was held in Didachara Public School, Khulo. AGL team talked about Composting – an organic process that recycles various organic materials otherwise regarded as waste products and produces a soil conditioner (the compost) which is used in organic farming, how to make Compost and the importance of using it. Students of the 9th, 10th and 11th forms attended the meeting.
AGL responds to the concerns raised by the local population of Khulo and Shuakhevi municipalities regarding reduction the number of fish in Adjaristsqali river. Herewith, we would like to explain that our company has been conducting research and monitoring of river habitats, in particular fish and water micro-invertebrates since 2013. Monitoring has been conducted on 15 stations 4 times a year during low and high flood periods. Monitoring covers desktop analysis, field surveys, laboratory processing of the found materials and anamnesis. Based on the monitoring results we can say that at this stage significant changes in the structure of fish population of the Adjaristsqali river has not been noted. The difference between the data of 2013-2017 is within the annual fluctuation of the rivers typical for the Kolkheti Mountainous rivers. It should be highlighted as well that the Shuakhevi hydropower project has not been into operations yet and consequently the project cannot have any impact on the reduction of the number of fish.
AGL team successfully completed a drainage system project in Didachara village, Khulo. The purpose of the project was to channel the ground waters in controlled manner and this way minimize the impact of flooding by safely carrying the water. The design of the project was developed by AGL engineers, local mayor’s office of Khulo municipality was also involved in terms of providing heavy machinery to local workers.
AGL CEO Mr. Prashant Joshi participated in the panel session on topic High Technology in Hydropower which was held within the framework of the 3rd Central Asian Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Energy Investment Forum on September 11 in Batumi, Georgia. Mr. Joshi highlighted the objective of the high technology applications in power sector which is to deliver clean, reliable and affordable power to consumers and also talked about the challenges hydropower projects face these days. “Development of power projects is becoming increasingly complex due to increasing awareness and sensitivities associated with environmental and social impacts as well as fast changing market requirements. Technological advancements need to be leveraged at every stage of the projects from conceptualization, design, construction and operations” – stated Mr. Joshi. He also noted that the scope of high technology applications should not focus only on lowering capital and operating costs, but also to respond to environmental and social compliance requirements, dynamic market needs, and safety of plant personnel and equipment.