On 30 July, GEFF in Armenia held a joint event in the Vayots Dzor region with one of its partner financial institutions – ACBA Leasing. Regional agribusiness representatives, such as winemakers, cheesemakers, and dairy and canned food producers, had a chance to receive first-hand information from industry experts about the high-performance and energy-efficient technologies that can be accessed to support their businesses both in the short and long term.
Being SMEs, the agribusinesses in the Vayots Dzor region are more exposed to fluctuations in energy prices. According to international research, SMEs in developing countries are three times more vulnerable to energy price fluctuations than corporations, owing to their underdeveloped technological base. Furthermore, they are exposed to climate change risks, i.e., rising maximum and lowering minimum temperatures, seasonal flooding, and droughts.
Green technologies play a vital role in making regional SMEs more competitive. Considering the fact that from a workforce accessibility perspective, the Vayots Dzor region is in one of the weakest positions in the country, it is crucial for regional companies to access high-performance technologies in order to gain a competitive advantage. For this reason, it is of great importance to make green technologies known to agribusinesses operating in Vayots Dzor and other regions. At an average regional SME production site (considering seasonal overloads), bottling and bottle-cleaning equipment can help a business achieve up to 30% energy savings, wine production equipment up to 41%, air-cooled chillers up to 30%, high-performance boilers at least 20%, air compressors at least 35%, and building insulation 50-70%, etc. Industry experts presented all the abovementioned technologies as well as how companies can access these through state subsidy schemes. All in all, the event was aimed at helping SMEs make informed decisions when it comes to improving their long-term efficiency through energy savings, but also contributing to their short-term competitiveness through operational gains that can be achieved.
“Agriculture is one of the most important sectors of the Armenian economy. Considering the growth rate in the sector, it is vital to make use of high-performance technologies to register dynamic growth and maintain the energy efficiency level of companies,” as highlighted by the technical expert of GEFF in Armenia, Vardan Khachatryan.
The Q&A session at the end of the event provided the attendees with insight on various financing schemes accessible through ACBA Leasing. The questions posed also highlighted the peculiarities of the technologies that can be accessed through the EBRD’s Green Technology Selector as well as other non-standard technologies available on demand through local vendors of internationally recognised technology suppliers.
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