TBILISI, November 25 – Georgia has opened a major new power facility in Tbilisi as part of a long-running plan to modernize the capital’s electricity network.
The Krtsanisi high-voltage substation, built by the private utility Telasi, was formally launched today, after more than a year of construction work carried out under the national energy regulator’s investment program.
According to Georgia’s National Energy and Water Supply Regulatory Commission (GNERC), the project is part of the country’s 2024-2029 investment plan and cost more than 24 million lari (around 9 million USD). GNERC chairman Davit Narmania inspected the site together with agency members and Deputy Economy Minister Vakhtang Tsintsadze, before taking part in the opening event.
The regulator says the new station is needed because electricity demand in Tbilisi continues to rise. The facility is designed to stabilize power in a wide zone stretching from Ortachala to Krtsanisi and Tabakhmela. It also makes it possible to link new consumers to the grid without overloading older parts of the system.
Technical details released by GNERC describe the substation as a 50-megawatt installation equipped with modern European high-voltage switches, two power transformers, and updated fire-safety and monitoring systems. It also includes 1,400 meters of new 35-kilovolt underground cable lines.
The project is one piece of a much larger nationwide upgrade that has been ongoing for the past two years. Earlier GNERC reports show that the regulator approved sharply expanded investment plans for water and energy utilities across Tbilisi, Rustavi and Mtskheta starting in 2024. Telasi’s electricity investments were paired with major water-supply upgrades carried out by the company Georgian Water and Power (GWP), funded at more than 140 million lari in 2024 alone.
Those plans have focused on replacing old and accident-prone infrastructure, which has caused repeated outages in several districts. In Rustavi, GWP committed 18 million lari for water-network rehabilitation in 2024 and more than 45 million lari for 2024 to 2026, following pressure from the city government and GNERC over delays in earlier works. Officials repeatedly visited ongoing sites to ensure deadlines were met and to push for uninterrupted water supply for residents.
In Tbilisi, the Spanish-owned utility Aqualia, which controls GWP, has launched a ten-year action plan after carrying out a system-wide audit. That plan includes fully rebuilding priority pipelines, installing thousands of new valves and replacing dozens of kilometers of pipes each year.
GNERC, on its part, claims the wider infrastructure investment program will reduce service interruptions and improve reliability for hundreds of thousands of consumers.
