He has discussed the idea with officials in Armenia and they liked it, he said.
The fund will finance small programmes costing from 0.5 to 1.5 million euros in regions of Armenia. They will be, for instance, wind-powered and small hydraulic stations, Lemier said.
The European Union demands mothballing of the Armenian nuclear power station and is ready to allocate 100 million euros towards this end, as well as creation of alternative sources of electricity.
The leadership of Armenia believes that the Armenian nuclear facility should operate until the republic has enough supply of energy.
According to Vardan Khachatrian, Armenian Finance and Economic Minister, the republic is working to create alternative sources of energy for the event of the closure of the nuclear facility but completion of such work will require about a billion euros.
The Armenian nuclear power station was initially halted in March 1989, less than a year after the devastating earthquake in Spitak, Leninakan and other Armenian cities. The acute energy crisis in Armenia restarted it in November 1995 when, after the truce concluded with Azerbaijan on Nagorny Karabakh, Armenia actually found itself in an economic blockade. The nuclear power facility's second block, having the Russian VVER-440 reactor of the first generation, produces on an average from 30 to 40 percent of Armenia's electricity. In the estimate of experts, it can continue until 2016.
In September 2003 the government of Armenia passed the Armenian nuclear power station in five-year trust management by Russia's United Energy Systems.
