How Georgia’s Electricity Grid Works

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How Georgia’s Electricity Grid Works: From Power Plant to Plug

Georgia’s electricity system links western hydropower, eastern gas-fired generation, cross-border interconnectors and two main distribution networks. Here is how power moves through the country—and why keeping the system balanced matters as much as producing enough electricity.

August 5, 2026

Photo by Nikita Ermilov on Unsplash

Most people encounter the electricity system only at its end point: a switch, a socket or a monthly bill. Behind it is a continuously operated network connecting power plants, high-voltage lines, substations, neighbouring countries and local distribution infrastructure.

Electricity generated at Enguri, Gardabani or one of Georgia’s smaller plants enters this common system. It does not follow one predetermined route. Power flows distribute across the interconnected network according to generation, demand, transmission availability and operating conditions.

At the National Dispatch Centre, Georgian State Electrosystem, or GSE, coordinates generation, consumption and cross-border exchanges to keep the system balanced in real time.

Stage one: electricity enters the grid

According to GSE, Georgia currently has 4,779.7 MW of installed generating capacity. Hydropower accounts for 3,548 MW, thermal power plants for 1,181.4 MW, wind for 39.5 MW and solar for 10.8 MW.

Installed capacity describes the maximum rated output of the generating fleet, while actual production changes throughout the day and year.

Hydropower output depends on river flows, reservoir conditions, plant availability and operating rules. Thermal units may remain idle during high-water periods and be brought online when hydro production falls or the system requires additional controllable generation. Wind and solar output vary with weather conditions.

Georgia’s seasonal pattern is pronounced. GNERC’s 2025 annual report states that hydropower supplied 79.8% of the country’s electricity generation that year, thermal plants 19.6% and wind 0.6%.

High river inflows generally support stronger hydropower generation and electricity exports in spring and summer. During lower-flow and higher-demand periods, thermal generation and imports assume a larger role.

Western Georgia: the main hydropower concentration

Georgia’s largest generating asset is the 1,300 MW Enguri HPP. Together with the downstream Vardnili cascade, it plays a central role in western Georgia’s generation base and in the regulation of the national electricity system.

The facility has a distinctive cross-boundary operating structure, and its electricity is supplied to both the rest of Georgia and Abkhazia under a longstanding operational arrangement. Because the proportions can vary with generation and consumption, actual annual deliveries do not always correspond exactly to the commonly cited allocation.

The wider western Georgian generation base includes the 220 MW Vardnili HPP, the 184 MW Vartsikhe cascade, the 113.7 MW Lajanuri HPP, the 80 MW Dzevruli plant, the 69.5 MW Gumati cascade, the 51 MW Rioni HPP and the 40.3 MW Shaori HPP.

Farther south-west, Shuakhevi HPP has a registered capacity of 178.72 MW.

Together, these facilities make western Georgia the country’s principal concentration of hydropower generation. This geography is one of the defining features of the national power system: much of the electricity is produced in the west, while major demand centres are located farther east.

Eastern Georgia: controllable generation and major demand centres

Most of Georgia’s gas-fired thermal capacity is concentrated around Gardabani, close to Tbilisi and the Azerbaijani border. GSE puts the country’s total thermal capacity at 1,181.4 MW.

Thermal generation is especially important when river flows are low and winter demand is high. Because thermal plants are dispatchable, they can provide controllable output when available, although their flexibility depends on the technical characteristics, operating condition and start-up requirements of individual units.

How intensively the plants operate also depends on hydrology, electricity demand, plant availability, fuel prices, electricity prices and cross-border schedules.

Zhinvali HPP, north of Tbilisi, adds 130 MW of hydropower and reservoir flexibility. Its reservoir is also an important part of Tbilisi’s water-supply system, giving the complex both energy and water-management functions.

Eastern Georgia is also home to the country’s largest concentration of electricity demand, including Tbilisi, Rustavi, major industrial users and a substantial share of commercial consumption.

Stage two: high-voltage transmission

Once electricity is generated, transformers raise its voltage so it can be moved efficiently over long distances.

Georgia’s bulk transmission network uses 500 kV, 220 kV and 110 kV infrastructure. GSE, the state-owned transmission system operator, manages the National Dispatch Centre and the bulk grid. Electricity reaches most homes and businesses later through separate distribution networks.

Several groups of substations and transmission lines perform particularly important functions.

In western Georgia, Jvari, Tskaltubo and Zestafoni collect and route large volumes of hydropower.

The 500 kV backbone carries bulk electricity between western generation, central Georgia and eastern demand centres.

Ksani is an important transformation and switching point serving the eastern part of the system, including routes towards the Tbilisi area.

Gardabani and Marneuli are major eastern transmission and cross-border nodes. Tbilisi receives electricity through several substations and lower-voltage networks.

These facilities should not be understood as a simple chain in which electricity passes through one fixed sequence. Power flows divide among the available parallel lines according to network conditions. Their direction and volume change as generation, demand, equipment availability and cross-border exchanges vary.

Why the Imereti corridor matters

The 500 kV Imereti line is one of Georgia’s most important transmission corridors. It carries large volumes of electricity from western generation towards central and eastern parts of the country.

GSE project documents state that if Imereti is unavailable, the existing 220 kV network cannot transfer the entire displaced power flow. This makes the corridor particularly important for both transfer capacity and system security.

When a heavily loaded line disconnects, electricity does not simply stop moving. The remaining power flows redistribute immediately across other available elements of the network. If those elements are unable to absorb the change, frequency, voltage and equipment loading can move outside secure operating limits.

GSE has been developing additional infrastructure to strengthen transfer capacity and reduce reliance on constrained corridors.

The Tskaltubo 500 kV substation was completed in 2024. However, the approximately 80-kilometre Jvari–Tskaltubo transmission line remains under construction. According to information attributed to GSE in May 2026, completion is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2027.

Once completed, the line is expected to strengthen the western transmission network and create additional routes for moving electricity from major hydropower facilities.

Stage three: Georgia’s links with neighbouring systems

Georgia has physical electricity connections with all four neighbouring countries. Their voltage levels, capacities and operating arrangements differ.

Russia

The principal listed connections include the 500 kV Kavkasioni line, the 220 kV Salkhino line and the 110 kV Java and Nakaduli lines.

Azerbaijan

The system connects through the 330 kV Gardabani 1 and Gardabani 2 lines and the 500 kV Mukhrani Valley line.

Armenia

The main listed connection is the 220 kV Alaverdi line.

Türkiye

The 400 kV Meskheti line connects through the Akhaltsikhe back-to-back HVDC converter station, while the 220 kV Adjara line provides another listed connection.

At Akhaltsikhe, the back-to-back converter station changes alternating current to direct current and then back to alternating current. This permits controlled electricity exchange between the Georgian and Turkish systems without requiring them to operate synchronously.

The cross-border Meskheti transmission line itself operates at 400 kV AC.

What cross-border connections do

Interconnectors support imports, exports, transit and system operation. Their role is not limited to covering domestic electricity shortages.

Cross-border flows depend on the operating mode, available transmission capacity, commercial schedules, electricity prices and conditions in the connected systems.

ESCO’s balance for June 2026 recorded 12.87 million kWh of imports and 36.83 million kWh of exports. This illustrates how electricity can move in different directions during the same reporting period.

A country may import electricity during some hours and export it during others. Commercial schedules, balancing requirements, hydropower conditions and regional power flows can all influence the direction of exchange.

Cross-border connections can also support system stability, but their contribution depends on the technical operating arrangement and whether the systems are functioning in parallel, asynchronously or through controlled converter infrastructure.

Stage four: from the transmission grid to the customer

At grid substations, transformers reduce voltage before electricity enters local distribution networks.

Telasi operates the distribution network in Tbilisi, while Energo-Pro Georgia covers most of the rest of the country. Following legal unbundling, electricity supply companies are organisationally separate from the distribution-system operators.

GSE operates the bulk transmission system. Telasi and Energo-Pro manage their respective distribution networks.

Within those networks, voltage is reduced further for streets, buildings and homes. Some large industrial users connect directly to the transmission grid or to higher-voltage distribution infrastructure.

For most customers, this distinction remains invisible. Electricity arrives through one socket, but several different organisations and infrastructure layers may be involved before it reaches that point.

How the National Dispatch Centre balances the system

Electricity generation and consumption must remain in balance continuously.

The National Dispatch Centre monitors generation, demand, transmission-line loading, system frequency, voltage and cross-border exchanges. Operators coordinate available power plants and network elements to keep the system within secure limits.

Hydropower plants with reservoirs can provide important flexibility because their output can often be adjusted more quickly than that of some other large generators.

Thermal plants can also provide controllable generation, particularly during lower-hydropower periods, although their response capabilities vary by unit.

Imports may support the system when domestic generation is insufficient or when commercial and operational conditions favour cross-border supply.

Wind and solar introduce additional variability because their production depends on weather. As their share grows, the system requires stronger forecasting, balancing resources, transmission capacity and operational flexibility.

What happens when a major element trips?

A large power plant or transmission line can disconnect in milliseconds.

The resulting change affects power flows, frequency and voltage across the interconnected system. Electricity previously carried by one line may shift onto others, while the sudden loss of generation can create an immediate imbalance between supply and demand.

A secure grid uses several layers of defence:

automatic protection;
generator response;
operating reserves;
cross-border support;
network reconfiguration;
controlled load shedding, if required.

The purpose of these measures is to prevent one fault from developing into a wider cascade.

Replacing lost electricity commercially comes later. The immediate priority is to preserve electrical stability in the remaining system.

What the July 2026 outages showed

The nationwide outages of 24 and 25 July 2026 illustrate why this distinction matters.

GNERC’s preliminary account of the 24 July event stated that Georgia became isolated from Azerbaijan’s electricity system, after which frequency and voltage declined and generators and consumers disconnected in a cascade.

The regulator’s preliminary assessment of the second event pointed to an outage on the 500 kV Imereti line.

These were preliminary findings at the time of writing, not final technical conclusions.

The incidents highlighted the importance of system protection, coordinated generator response, transmission redundancy, cross-border operation and the ability to stabilise the grid after the sudden loss of a major element.

They also demonstrated that electricity adequacy and electricity security are not the same thing. A system may have sufficient generation available in total, but still experience a major outage if frequency, voltage or power flows cannot be stabilised quickly enough after a disturbance.

What matters next

Georgia’s electricity challenge is no longer simply whether the country can generate enough power.

It is whether the grid can move that electricity safely between regions, balance supply and demand in every season, and withstand the sudden loss of a major plant, transmission line or cross-border connection.

That will become increasingly important as electricity consumption grows and more hydro, wind and solar projects connect to the system.

New generation can strengthen Georgia’s energy position, but only if transmission capacity, protection systems, operating reserves and flexible resources develop alongside it.

For consumers, most of this infrastructure remains invisible until something fails. Yet the reliability of every light, factory and public service ultimately depends on the ability of the entire network to absorb a disturbance without allowing it to spread.

Source note

This explainer is based on current system data and project materials published by Georgian State Electrosystem; the 2025 annual report of the Georgian National Energy and Water Supply Regulatory Commission; generation and balance data from the Electricity System Commercial Operator; technical data from Enguri HPP; and preliminary GNERC findings reported by Georgia’s Public Broadcaster.

Capacity and operational figures may change as new plants and transmission projects enter service.