Funds for Nurek HPP rehabilitation project collected

By Azernews

By Kamila Aliyeva

The lower house of the Tajik parliament ratified the financing agreement under the project “Nurek HPP Rehabilitation, Phase 1” on December 24.

The agreement was signed between the Republic of Tajikistan and the International Development Association (IDA) in June 2017.

“IDA will allocate $225 million for the implementation of this project, of which $57 million as a grant, and the rest - as a soft loan,” the Minister of Energy and Water Resources Usmonali Usmonzoda said at a regular session of the parliament.

Earlier, the Eurasian Fund for Stabilization and Development (EFSR) allocated $40 million in the form of a loan for the implementation of the above-mentioned project. Another loan in the amount of $60 million will be provided by the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

Thus, to date, all the funds have been collected for the implementation of the first phase of rehabilitation of the Nurek hydropower plant which will be implemented within five years.

The Nurek HPP rehabilitation project, divided into two phases, involves the replacement of all nine generating units, key infrastructural components of the plant and replacement of six auto-transformers, enhancement of dam safety and provision of technical assistance. The projected cost of the second phase is about $350 million.

Usmonzoda noted that after the complete rehabilitation of the Nurek HPP, the generation of electricity at the facility will reach 3,300 MW.

The Nurek HPP is the country and Central Asia’s largest hydropower facility providing over 70 percent of the total generation in Tajikistan. It is part of the Vakhsh cascade of hydropower plants. The plant’s installed capacity is 3,000 MW (eight 335 MW units and one 320 MW unit). It was commissioned in 1972; the latest unit was commissioned in 1979. At present, the plant is operating at 77 percent of its design capacity because of obsolete equipment and lack of maintenance. Therefore, the maximum capacity of the Nurek HPP in recent years has not exceeded 2,220 MW.

The storage volume of the reservoir is 10.5 cu km (the effective storage is 4.5 cu km); its surface area is 98 sq km and length about 70 km. The dam has 300 m in height (the world’s highest dam of this type until 2013). The average output exceeded 10,223 million kWh a year between 2014 and 2016.

Mountainous Tajikistan experiences frequent power blackouts. Previously, Central Asia had a unified energy system. It included 83 power plants with total capacity of 25,000 megawatts in the territory of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and southern Kazakhstan.

In winter, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan accumulated water in reservoirs and received electricity and energy resources (coal and natural gas) from Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. In summer, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan sent water to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan for irrigation farming.

As much as 50 percent of the power generating capacity in the united power grid of Central Asia and Southern Kazakhstan was concentrated in Uzbekistan.

However, after Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan left the unified energy system of Central Asia in 2003 and 2009, respectively, the system ceased to function.