Intricacies of energy security: why region cannot do without Zangezur transmission line

Baku has outlined its priorities in the TRIPP project. In addition to the railway connection between mainland Azerbaijan and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (NAR), it is also a high-voltage power transmission line running along the same route. From the very beginning, the idea of the Zangezur Corridor was not limited to the restoration of the railway. It was much broader and more meaningful.

Azerbaijan has completed a project to lay a power transmission line from the main part of the country to Nakhchivan through the territory of Armenia, President Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with national television. According to the head of state, a very large substation has been built in the Jabrayil district liberated from occupation. Its main function is the transmission of electricity. Such substations are called conversion substations. It was built not for internal energy supply, but for the transmission of large amounts of energy, and even more precisely, for the Zangezur Electric Power Corridor.

As follows from the words of the President, work was also carried out on the territory of Armenia, through which the power line should pass. Azerbaijani specialists visited the neighboring country and identified the places where power transmission poles should be installed. Baku hopes that the Armenian side will start work without delay, because the connection of the energy networks is necessary, first of all, for itself.

The news about the visit to the TRIPP communications area did not go unnoticed and caused outrage in certain circles of Armenia. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan explained at a briefing on Thursday that the visits of Azerbaijani specialists took place within the framework of previously announced working meetings on power lines and railways. The Armenian side conducts bilateral work on communications issues, he stressed, and the details of these bilateral meetings were officially published in the media.

In short, there is no sensation and there is nothing to worry about.

The Armenian Prime Minister, unlike the lower political strata of his country, understands the importance of energy cooperation with Azerbaijan. Although he does not like Baku's position on the Metsamor NPP, he realizes that the day may come when Armenia will need some amounts of electricity, and therefore it is necessary to cooperate with Azerbaijan and Turkiye because Armenia wants to achieve full energy independence. But this does not exclude its participation in international energy trade.

Understanding the situation on the part of the leadership of a neighboring country is the main thing, and everything else is nuances that have no influence on the implementation of projects. It is important that official Yerevan adheres to the roadmap and does not try to slow down.

The Constitutional Court of Armenia will begin reviewing the compliance of the TRIPP draft with the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia only in a month. It is not known when direct work on the project will begin if a positive decision is made. Azerbaijan expects this to happen by the end of this year. For his part, he is already doing everything necessary. He started taking these steps even before the Washington meeting and even long before Yerevan agreed to accept the realities.

Measures are being taken not only in the transport sector, but also in the energy sector to ensure that everything is ready for the start of the project. Both in the main territory of the country and in Nakhchivan.

President Ilham Aliyev spoke about the Jabrayil substation, built specifically for the transmission of electricity. He was talking about the power transmission poles installed in the Kalbajar region at a sky-high altitude. This is the most time-consuming part of the work when laying high-voltage power lines, and when Armenia finally stops being afraid of its shadow, the rest will be completed in six months. The head of state named this deadline, and there is hardly anyone in Azerbaijan who knows better than him.

In May 2023, President Ilham Aliyev attended the opening of the 330-kilovolt Jabrail hub substation. The substation is the largest in Karabakh and Eastern Zangezur and provides convenient access to electricity transit via the Jabrayil-Nakhchivan-Agra line (Turkiye), and from there through Turkiye's energy system to European markets. As part of the project, the necessary work has been carried out at other substations, and power transmission lines have been installed. At the last stage of the interstate project, in order to complete the formation of the Azerbaijan-Nakhchivan-Turkiye-Europe energy hub, an additional transformer substation will be built on the territory of Nakhchivan adjacent to Turkiye to convert 330 kilovolts to 400 kilovolts, and a double-circuit 400-kilovolt power transmission line will be laid from Nakhchivan to Turkiye at a distance of 230 kilometers.

The key project is called the Zangezur Power Transmission Line. On January 29, 2026, Azerenergy announced the start of construction of the Azerbaijani part of the project. We are talking about a dual-circuit 330-kilovolt transmission line with a capacity of up to 1000 MW. At the first stage, two sections are being built: a 74-kilometer section from Jabrayil to Agband, that is, to the border with Armenia, and a 105-kilometer section from Nakhchivan to Ordubad at the second stage.

It is also planned to build a 230-kilometer-long power transmission line directly connecting Nakhchivan with Turkiye.

Azerbaijan began construction of the Zangezur power transmission line at the end of January 2026. The national energy company's message noted that the line, which will be laid along the Araz River, is being built in extremely difficult conditions, including mountainous and rocky terrain in some areas, as well as harsh climatic conditions.

The construction of the Armenian section of the transmission line is planned at the second stage of the project. After completion, this line will be combined with sections in the direction of Agband and Ordubad.

In January of this year, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced that the energy systems of Armenia and Azerbaijan would be integrated to ensure electricity trade, and directly linked this to TRIPP. At the same time, he did not mention the specific technical parameters of the Armenian part of the transmission line. In the Agreement between Armenia and the United States on TRIPP, published in May 2026, the electric power industry was already explicitly included in the list of projects. Article 1 of the agreement states that TRIPP Projects include railways, highways, oil and gas pipelines, fiber-optic infrastructure, and electric power projects.

It is important to keep in mind that the energy transmission project from Azerbaijan to Europe is not being implemented for the sake of providing electricity to the Nakhchivan Autonomous Region. This is not the main goal. In an interview with national television during his trip to NAR, President Ilham Aliyev announced the availability of the necessary capacities in NAR to ensure the energy security of the autonomous republic. And now we are talking about the export of electricity by Nakhchivan itself. In other words, NAR will be more part of the international project as an export partner.

The autonomous republic, which experienced a severe blockade and energy crisis during the Karabakh conflict, has now developed a significant energy potential of its own. Despite the isolation and communication difficulties, everything necessary was done to increase the NAR of its own generation. Thus, in 2014, the Arpachai-1 HPP with a capacity of 20.5 MW and Arpachai-2 with a capacity of 1.4 MW were commissioned. Thus, the main tasks of the Zangezur Power Transmission Line will be to create a reserve for autonomy, combine its energy system with the common energy system of Azerbaijan, and export to Turkiye with further geographical expansion.

Of course, the implementation of the project rests on the Armenian site. If everything is known about the Azerbaijani part of the project, there is documentation, the entrances and exits are marked and work is already underway, then there is no information about the specific route, parameters, connection points, substations, deadlines, or contractors for the transmission line through Armenia. There is only Nikol Pashinyan's ardent desire and expectations for September 15th. Yerevan does not dare to start doing anything before the decision of the Constitutional Court. Because if the verdict is "no"... But really, what happens if the Constitutional Court of Armenia suddenly finds inconsistencies with the Constitution in the agreement with Washington?

Pashinyan does not know the answer to this question. But he knows something else - the stakes for Armenia are very high, and it needs to try very hard not to stay away. For many years, Armenia has been trying to implement a high-voltage transmission line project with Iran. There is still no result. Yerevan started talking about the construction of a power transmission line towards Georgia only in March of this year.

In our case, Armenia is given the opportunity to integrate into the international energy flow without much effort and at the same time take care of its energy security. Therefore, she needs the Zangezur power line. And that's the end of it.