The major field of economy in Karabagh is energy. Today, 40% of electricity is produced in the Republic of Karabagh. The energy is produced by the Sarsang hydroelectric station located near the Tartarr river. The hydroelectric station has been working since 1976 and produces 65 million kilowatts/hour of electricity a year.
Until 1920, the only hydroelectric station was located in Shushi and had 30 kilowatts power. It is possible to create 78 hydroelectric stations in Karabagh with 175 megawatts power. That will help produce 612 million kilowatts/hour electricity and save 215 thousand tons of gas. Twenty four small electric stations can be built only near the Tartar river alone and 507 million kilowatts/hour electricity can be produced in a year. For starters, it is guaranteed to construct 22 hydroelectric stations with 121 megawatts/hour electric power which can produce up to 431 million kilowatts/hour electricity. The first hydroelectric station will be built in Karasi. The next one will be the cascade built near the Treyev river with three hydroelectric stations and then the one in Madaghis. Sarsang’s hydroelectric station will precede two other constructions. The price of one hydroelectric station is 21 million dollars and production is 60/65 million kilowatts an hour. Small water tubes will be constructed and the water flowing from Sarsang will even be used for electricity purposes. It is also foreseen to construct the water tube in Madaghis, which will be used for electricity purposes.
We must mention that, during the Soviet era, ownership of the Sarsang hydroelectric station belonged to the station located in Mirbashir (present Tartarr) out of the boundaries of Karabagh. Until 1990,the maximum amount of electricity produced here was 80.9 million kilowatts/hour a year.
In 1999, the Armenian mechanism was working in the energy field. Each region had its own distributing system. There were four distributing networks in Karabagh which were connected to one entire system. Electricity is sold to residents for 14 drams a kilowatt and 25 drams for authorities.
In 2000, the scheme for the amounts of hydroelectric energy for Karabagh was set straight. According to that scheme, it is foreseen to create 16 hydroelectric stations with 126.7 megawatts power and 431.4 million kilowatts/hour electric power a year.