Azerbaijan, Iran to launch Giz-Galasi hydrojunction over Araz River

The Giz Galasi hydrojunction, the largest joint water project between Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan, located over the Araz River on the border between the two countries, will become operational in the coming days, the chief executive of Iran’s East Azerbaijan Regional Water Company, Yousef Ghaffarzadeh, said, Report informs, referring to Mehr News Agency.

"Work on the construction of the hydroelectric power station, which is the most important project in the northwest of the country, has been completed, and it will be inaugurated in the coming days," he said.

In addition to supplying water to the downstream land area and booming agriculture, the operation of this giant water project will lead to the economic development of the region, an increase in the quality of agricultural products, and the development of tourism in this region, Ghaffarzadeh added.

The project envisages the construction of two hydroelectric facilities: the Khudafarin Hydroelectric Power Plant, which will have a capacity of 100 megawatts, and the Giz Galasi Hydroelectric Power Plant, with a planned capacity of 40 megawatts.

The implementation of this project will allow Azerbaijan alone to produce 358 million kWh of electricity per year, improve irrigation of 252,000 hectares of existing land, and provide irrigation of 12,000 hectares of new cropland.

These hydroelectric facilities and power plants, with a total capacity of more than 1.6 billion cubic meters, will allow Azerbaijan and Iran to jointly use the water and energy resources of the Araz River.