The government of Georgia will turn to hydroelectric development in a bid to ease the country’s power shortage.

Reports in Georgia’s daily newspaper ‘The Messenger’ claim that work will resume on the Hudonhesi project, construction of which ceased in the 1980s.

The majority of the earlier work on the project will be disregarded, as construction methods have moved on and new technology has been introduced. It will cost between US$500-600M to complete the new plant.

The implementation of this project will add a much-needed 600MW to the Georgian energy system and will also allow electricity to be sold to nearby Turkey, via a 500kV transmission line that will be built as part of the project.

It is estimated that construction of the project will be completed by 2011.