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Amid the breakdown of the only high-voltage overhead line feeding Artsakh from Armenia in Azerbaijani-held areas, Artsakh has been left relying only on domestically produced electricity since 9 January. The Sarsang hydropower plant provides most of the electricity to users in Artsakh and is not operating at its full capacity now.

"The capacity of the Sarsang hydropower plant is now very low, there is no water head and no possibility of normal operation. It operates just enough to supply the grid, and that's all. I can say that the water levels of the Sarsang Reservoir have dropped by 29-30 meters since January 9," Artsakh HPP General Director Vahram Beglaryan told Panorama.am.

One of the devastating consequences of Azerbaijan's blockade of Artsakh is the energy crisis. Talking to Panorama.am, Chairman of the Artsakh Water Committee Ararat Khachatryan noted that the hydroelectric power plant over the Sarsang Reservoir had been operating in a heightened mode in order to ease the problem. As a result, the reservoir is almost empty now.

"Artsakh does not use the reservoir water for irrigation. The water from the reservoir is used only for generating electricity. Precipitation was low and the Tartar River didn't overflow. As a result, the reservoir is not filling with water. At the moment, it has very little water. There is barely enough. The government decided to impose rolling blackouts for 12 hours at its meeting. There won't be much electricity, the turbines don't work because of the lack of water,” Khachatryan said.

Addressing the irrigation problem, he noted that mechanical irrigation and drip irrigation were carried out in Artsakh, adding only 10 percent of irrigation used gravity fed system.