Enhancing Energy Security through Power Interconnection and Renewable Energy Program (WB-P179950)

Regions
  • Europe and Central Asia
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • Georgia
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • World Bank (WB)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Approved
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
A
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Voting Date
May 21, 2024
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
Government of Georgia
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Communications
  • Energy
  • Law and Government
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Loan
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 35.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Loan Amount (USD)
$ 35.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 50.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Bank Documents
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ WB website

Updated in EWS Jun 19, 2024

Disclosed by Bank May 17, 2023

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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

As stated by the World Bank, the project objective is to "enhance the implementation readiness of the Black Sea Submarine Cable Project."

The Black Sea Submarine Cable (BSSC) Project represents one of the most strategic and ambitious energy and digital connectivity initiatives in the South Caucasus and Southeast Europe, with landing points in Georgia and Romania. The proposed BSSC Project would include parallel electricity and fiber-optic submarine cable interconnections across the Black Sea.

Increased electricity trade through the electricity interconnection is expected to enable renewable energy (RE) development in the South Caucasus and contribute to the  decarbonization of energy supply, enhanced energy security, and electricity supply reliability on both sides of the interconnection.
The digital interconnection would reduce internet  connection costs, improve bandwidth, and build redundancy for international digital connectivity across the Black Sea. Besides Georgia and Romania, Hungary, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and potentially other countries in the region are expected to participate in the development and financing of the BSSC Project.

With the proposed Enhancing Energy Security through Power Interconnection and Renewable Energy (ESPIRE) Multiphase Programmatic Approach (MPA) Program, the World Bank will support the preparatory activities for the BSSC Project (Phase 1), enabling on-land infrastructure (Phase 2), as well as the BSSC Project itself (Phase 3).

Early Warning System Project Analysis
For a project with severe or irreversible impacts to local community and natural resources, the Early Warning System Team may conduct a thorough analysis regarding its potential impacts to human and environmental rights.

The World Bank stated that the overall programme risk is "High".

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.
Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

As stated on the company's website, JSC Georgian State Electrosystem (GSE) is one of the largest transmission grid owner. GSE owns and operates 4382,66 km transmission lines and 93 substations all over the country. GSE neither generates electricity nor serves electricity direct customers. It only provides electricity transmission from hydro, thermal and wind power plants to power distribution companies (Telmiko, EP Georgia Supply) and direct customers (large companies). Distribution companies, in their turn, provide electricity to direct customers, and direct customers consume it for their own purposes.

Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
- - - - Georgian State Electrosystem Ltd. Contractor Energy

Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

World Bank Team Leaders:

Joern Thorsten Huenteler - Senior Energy Specialist
Abdulaziz Faghi - Program Leader

No contacts available at the time of disclosure.

Implementing Agency - Georgian State Electrosystem:

George Gigineishvili - Director General
Email: giorgi.gigineishvili@gse.com.ge 

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

To submit an information request for project information, you will have to create an account to access the Access to Information request form. You can learn more about this process at: https://www.worldbank.org/en/access-to-information/request-submission

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF THE WORLD BANK

The World Bank Inspection Panel is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by a World Bank-financed project. If you submit a complaint to the Inspection Panel, they may investigate to assess whether the World Bank is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. You can contact the Inspection Panel or submit a complaint by emailing ipanel@worldbank.org. Information on how to file a complaint and a complaint request form are available at: https://www.inspectionpanel.org/how-to-file-complaint

How it works

How it works