GNERC working group: Georgian grid was isolated from Azerbaijan on July 24; GSE should have acted to secure system stability

The working group of the Georgian National Energy and Water Supply Regulatory Commission (GNERC) has presented preliminary findings into the causes behind the nationwide blackout on July 24.

As reported by GPB First Channel from GNERC, on July 24, 2026, the Georgian power system was operating in parallel mode with Azerbaijan’s grid via a 330 kV transmission line. At approximately 00:10:49, the Georgian power grid disconnected from the Azerbaijani system, leaving Georgia’s grid operating in isolation. This triggered a sharp drop in both frequency and voltage, reaching critical thresholds that precipitated cascading outages across both power plants and consumers, ultimately resulting in a complete grid collapse.

“According to information provided to date by Georgian State Electrosystem (GSE), one contributing factor was the 110 kV Geguti transmission line originating from the Kutaisi 220 substation, owned by JSC Energo-Pro Georgia.

Georgian State Electrosystem should not have waited for fully high-speed protection systems to be installed on transmission lines; rather, it should have recalculated existing relay protection and automation settings to minimise the likelihood of triggering islanding automation with Azerbaijan, acting strictly in the interest of securing the reliability and resilience of Georgia’s power grid.

This issue warrants investigation along two tracks: first, the loss of interconnection with Azerbaijan, and second, the capacity of the Georgian power grid to operate in an isolated state,” stated the GNERC working group.

As a reminder, a nationwide power outage occurred on July 24, followed by several hours of service disruption on July 25. At this stage, GNERC has released its preliminary findings regarding the causes of the July 24 blackout.

The State Security Service of Georgia (SSSG) has launched an investigation under the sabotage article of the criminal code regarding the emergency power outages across the country on July 24 and 25.