Georgia's Energy Geopolitics Explained — Murman Margvelashvili

This episode of The IR thinker traces Georgia’s journey from Soviet-era infrastructure to today’s contested energy landscape with Professor Murman Margvelashvili. The conversation examines how Georgia’s energy mix has evolved up to 2025, the geopolitical risks attached to different sources, and the ownership and control of key hydropower assets. We explore prospects for hydrogen, the remaining headroom for renewables, and the political, technical and feasibility debates around nuclear power. The discussion also unpacks how conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia affect the grid, how Tbilisi balances Azerbaijan, Türkiye, Russia, the EU, China and the United States to preserve strategic autonomy, and whether additional transit pipelines from the Caspian to Europe are really needed. Finally, we look at untapped domestic potential, the reinvestment of transit revenues, resilience to blackouts and supply shocks, and the governance gaps and under-researched areas that will shape Georgia’s next energy chapter.Murman MargvelashviliProfessor Murman Margvelashvili is a leading Georgian energy policy expert with more than thirty years of experience in the sector, specialising in energy security, sustainability and the geopolitics of the energy transition. He is Director of Energy Studies at World Experience for Georgia, Associate Professor at Ilia State University, and Director of the Energy and Sustainability Institute, and has been closely involved in drafting the National Energy Policy, the National Energy and Climate Plan and the conceptual foundations of Georgia’s National Hydrogen Strategy.Publications:The Role of Black Sea Security in Shaping the Green Energy CorridorEnergy Ties in Occupied Abkhazia as a Potential Threat to Georgia’s Western AspirationsSystemic Approach to Energy SecurityContent00:00 – Introduction01:58 – From Soviet system to 2025: evolution of Georgia’s energy mix05:03 – Dependency and geopolitical risk across Georgia’s energy sources09:17 – Ownership and control of Georgian hydropower10:53 – Hydrogen in Georgia: prospects and pathways15:16 – Have renewables peaked? Headroom for additional capacity17:18 – Nuclear power in Georgia: options, debates, feasibility19:52 – Abkhazia and South Ossetia: implications for Georgia’s power grid22:48 – Balancing Azerbaijan, Türkiye, Russia, the EU and China: safeguarding strategic autonomy32:53 – Expanding Caspian gas to Europe: do new Georgian transit pipelines need to be built?34:51 – Armenia’s role in Georgia’s energy geopolitics36:50 – United States interests in Georgia’s energy sector38:51 – Türkiye–Azerbaijan energy cooperation: impacts on Georgia43:03 – Untapped and hidden energy potential in Georgia45:40 – Reinvesting transit revenues into energy modernisation50:20 – Supply shocks and blackouts: resilience and response53:21 – Assessing the effectiveness of Georgia’s energy strategy56:35 – Governance gaps and failures: lessons for reform01:02:14 – Under-researched energy topics in GeorgiaFollow & Further ResourcesSubstack: https://theirthinker.substack.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ir-thinker/X: https://x.com/irthinker_Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theirthinker/Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theirthinker.bsky.socialFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/irthinkerfb Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.