lines). Economy Hrazdan is one of the highly industrialized towns in Armenia. The town is home to many large plants including: Hrazdan hydroelectric power plant: built between 1954 and 1959 in the Aghbyurak district of Hrazdan, as part of the Sevan–Hrazdan Cascade. It has two turbines with a total installed capacity of 81.6 MW. Its nominal annual generation is 375 GWh, but the factual generation for the last years has been about 40 GWh. The water reservoir has an area of 1.7 km² with a capacity of 5,6 million m³. Hrazdan Thermal Power Plant (RazTES OJSC): is one of the largest thermal power plants in Transcaucasia. It was built in 1963–1974, and the first unit became operational in 1966. In 2013, a new unit was added. 4 older units of the plant are owned and operated by the Hrazdan Energy Company, a subsidiary of Inter RAO UES, while the new 5th unit is owned and operated by Gazprom Armenia. In 2015, Inter RAO UES sold the Hrazdan Energy Company to the Cyprus-registered Liormand Holdings Ltd., a part of the Tashir Group owned by Samvel Karapetyan. The plant has a total power of 1,110 MW (units 1-4) and 480 MW for the added 5th unit. Hrazdan Cement factory of Hrazdan: founded in 1970 as "Hrazdan Cement Factory" by the Soviet government. It was privatized in 2001 to become owned by "MIKA Ltd.". In July 2014, a new group of owners took over the factory lead by Nikolay Khachaturov of Khachaturov Group. Since then, the plant has undergone major changes by improving the production technology and becoming more environmentally friendly. The plant is one of the largest cement producers in Transcaucasia with an annual production capacity of 1.2 million tons and the only one in the region with wet production methodology. "Qualitech Machinery" machine tool plant is an Armenian-Canadian joint venture founded in 1999. The town has also minor industrial firms including the "Hidro Storm" metal-plastic manufacturing plant founded in 2009, as well as the "Arjermek" and "Hakobyan" companies for building materials. Education Hrazdan is home to the Humanitarian Institute of Hrazdan opened in 1996. Owned by the private sector, the university has 3 faculties: law, pedagogy and economics. As of 2009, 13 public education schools, 13 nursery schools, 1 school for special needs and several musical and sport academies are operating in Hrazdan. There is a research centre within the Hrazdan