Armenian Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Armen Movsisyan said that renewable energy is an important basis of Armenia’s energy field, as it allows improving Armenian’s energy security.

Armenia’s potential and opportunities in this field are not great, but we should use them at most, Movsisyan said during opening of Week of Renewable Energy held in Yerevan on October 5-8.

“Hydro, wind and solar energy create some possibilities for the development of renewable energy in Armenia. Importance is attached to hydro potential and 94 mini hydropower plants already operate, another 65 hydropower plants are constructed. The operating hydropower plants will be producing 385mln KW/hour electric power that makes 3% of Armenia’s entire demand,” the Minister said, adding that Armenia will be able to bring this figure to 7-8% within next 10-15 years.

Besides, according to Armen Movsisyan, investors also pay attention to usage of wind potential for electric power production and an Italian company has already obtained a license for construction of a wind power station with 20MW capacity. “We also try to develop solar energy, which is expensive, but rather reliable from the point of view of energy security,” concluded Movsisyan.