Tetra Tech is powering a more secure and cleaner energy future for Armenia by opening electricity markets, advancing energy sector reforms, and renewing cross-border electricity trade.
While Armenia’s power sector has been fully regulated since the late 1990s, the wholesale and retail power markets have had no competition, remaining monopolized under a single-buyer market structure. Energy sector investments by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and other donor partners have advanced significant energy sector reforms, but Armenia’s energy remains insecure.
Benefits
- Developed package of 11 licensing regulations for new electricity market
- Updated the Armenia Least Cost Energy Development Plan to identify renewable energy opportunities
- Supported the government’s bidding process for 200 megawatts (MW) solar project
- Renewed cross-border trade and market development between Armenia and Georgia
Tetra Tech is implementing the USAID Armenia Market Liberalization and Electricity Trade (MLET) program to:
- Improve competition in the electricity market and attract investment into the energy sector
- Accelerate legal and regulatory reforms that align with European standards
- Support cross-border electricity trade with Georgia
Through MLET, Tetra Tech assists the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure, the Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC), and other energy sector institutions to adopt reforms and advance plans that promote energy sector resilience and create a pathway to inclusive, low-carbon economic growth and development.
Tetra Tech assisted the government to develop—and PSRC to adopt—a package of licensing regulations for the new electricity market, including licensing rules for electricity distribution, a universal electricity supply, a model license for power producers, and wholesale electricity trading. Through MLET, Tetra Tech helped Armenia restart its regional cooperation with Georgia, renewing a much-needed technical dialogue on key issues related to cross-border trade and market development.
The MLET program is providing extensive training and capacity-building activities for all new market participants, service providers, and the regulator; ensuring inclusion in the policy development process and promoting best practices to Armenian stakeholders to understand the practical and measurable positive impacts of expanding gender diversity in the energy sector; and engaging the private sector in its activities and initiatives to bolster local ownership and ensure the reforms’ long-term sustainability.
