Mtispiri Public School Students Tour

On June 5, 2022, per the initiative of the Bakhvi 1 Hydropower Plant management, senior students (grades 9, 10, 11 and 12) from Ozurgeti Municipality village Mtispiri Public School toured Adjara, specifically Kobuleti Municipality sites. During the tour, the students visited a small run-of-river HPP located on the Kintrishi river. The HPP was commissioned in 2017; its capacity is 6.4 MW with annual average production 30 million kilowatt-hours. The HPP manager introduced the visitors with the HPP operations and its specifics and guided them to fishpass. After touring the HPP facility, a group of youths from Mtispiri visited the Petra fort in Tsikhisdziri. During the tour, the students had a picnic. Invited trainer, psychologist and HR manager, founder of the Insight group, Ms. Ketevan Lobzhanidze, led an entertainment program specifically tailored for this age group.

"It is of utmost importance to see with your own eyes a hydropower plant in action, hear about the details of its operations and realize how significant for the country is development of small HPPs. Today, we have introduced the guests with the Kintrishi HPP, which is constructed and operated on the Kintrishi river by our colleagues from Hydro Development Company. It is a run-of-river hydropower plant with fishpass. We wanted the youths to see how a modern HPP operates in reality and how the fishpass functions. Through our training sessions they have already gained theoretical knowledge and now we wanted to show this in practice," said Mr. David Mikealdze, Bakhvi 1 Hydropower Plant ESG Manager.

The tour is a part of the Bakhvi 1 HPP social programs educational project. The project was developed specifically for senior students from the Mtispiri Public School through informal learning training course aimed at delivering information to and sharing knowledge with 9^th, 10^th, 11^th and 12^th grade students on renewable energy, while at the same time raising environmental awareness.

"Electricity is needed with growing intensity every year as consumption is increasing. More machines and tools are used that require electricity supply. Hence, making use of renewable energy resources is of great significance. Energy can be generated through wind, solar, run-of-river schemes. These are naturally occurring events that exist in the world notwithstanding human action and if we utilize these resources for our benefit and transform into energy limiting human damage to the ecosystem, the plants and animals will be protected to a maximum possible extent, and we will not damage their habitats. This will be positively reflected on our planet. With information received at training sessions I started thinking of all this. I'd like to thank all those who cared about providing us with knowledge. My peers and I are lucky," said Mr. Irakli Tsetskhladze, Mtispiri Public School 11^th grade student.

Bakhvi 1 HPP training course for senior school students will be delivered till the end of the school semester and is planned to be renewed from September 2022. Starting from September the sessions will also be delivered to Chokhatauri Municipality Chkhakaura Public School students.