“Energy risks of the development of agriculture in Armenia”. Vahe Davtyan

Doctor of political sciences, professor Vahe Davtyan writes:

“Energy risks of development of agriculture in Armenia

At first glance, the project of building an artificial intelligence (AI) factory in Armenia is a step towards technological progress and strengthening regional competitiveness. However, such initiatives should be considered not only in the logic of the development of the digital economy, but also in the context of the structural limitations of the energy system.

The experience of Georgia shows the essence of this problem. In a short time, data and mining infrastructures have become a significant consumer, reaching 5% of the total demand. As a result, the demand structure has changed. a concentrated, stable and high load generating segment has emerged.

This, in turn, has led to a systemic deficit. in 2026 At the beginning of the year, consumption in Georgia exceeded 2.7 billion kWh, while production was only 1.9 billion kWh. The deficit is filled through imports. The consequence: dependence of the price of electricity on foreign markets and an increase in tariffs (since April 1 this year they have increased by 21-33%). At the same time, data centers, being high-paying consumers, crowd out other consumers, reshaping the logic of internal energy distribution.

In the case of Armenia, these risks multiply. The energy system already has structural limitations: dependence on imported energy carriers, seasonality of hydro resources, limited term resource of the operating nuclear power plant.

The experience of Georgia shows that the energy-intensive sectors formed in the name of technological development can transform the entire energy balance. And this is in the case that there are no data centers in Georgia that are close to the project that is being implemented in Armenia. According to Rev Lebaredian, vice president of NVIDIA company, by the end of the year, when 50,000 graphics processors (GPUs) will be launched, Armenia will be among the top five in the world in terms of their number, bypassing the major European states. In the next phase, it is planned to concentrate another 60 thousand GPUs in Armenia and increase their total number to 110 thousand.

Therefore, the key issue for Armenia is not the construction of the data center itself, but the energy basis on which it will operate.

The conclusion is clear.

If Armenia aims to develop the AB and form digital infrastructures of such a scale, then it is necessary to provide stable generation capacities in advance. Solar generation is not able to provide this a priori. In this logic, the construction of a new, traditional power nuclear power unit turns into a systemic necessity, both from the point of view of energy security and technological development.”

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