Participation of World Bank in rehabilitation of Nurek HPP discussed in Dushanbe

DUSHANBE, July 13, 2016, Asia-Plus – Tajik Finance Minister Abdusalom Qurboniyon yesterday received a delegation of the World Bank, led by Ranjit Lamech, World Bank Practice Manager, Energy and Extractive Global Practice in the Europe and Central Asia Region.  

Ms. Patricia Veevers-Carter, the World Bank Country Manager for Tajikistan, also attended the meeting.

According to the Ministry of Finance (MoF) Secretariat, the meeting participants discussed issues related to enhancement of Tajikistan’s energy sector, including development and implementation of the project for rehabilitation of the Nurek hydroelectric power plant (HPP).

The Nurek Hydropower Scheme is located on the Vakhsh River, some 80 kilometers from Dushanbe.  It comprises a 300-meter high embankment dam with impervious core, two spillway tunnels in the left bank designed for an evacuation capacity of 4,040 m3/s and a power plant of nine Francis units for a total installed capacity of 3000 MW and a discharge capacity of 1,350 m3/s.

The construction of Nurek HPP was carried out from 1961 to 1979.  The initial installed capacity of the power plant was 2,700 MW and it was then increased to 3,000 MW in 1988 through an upgrade of the hydraulic turbines.

Nurek HPP remains up to this day the key power generation facility of the country, still providing more than 70% of the total generation.  In this context, the question of Nurek HPP refurbishment after nearly 40 years in operation appears essential for the Tajik electric network and on a larger scale for the Tajik economy.  The rehabilitation of Nurek HPP will cover the rehabilitation measures urgently required with the target to secure the plant”s production and the safety of the power complex, which includes the following: rehabilitation of electromechanical equipment; rehabilitation of auxiliary services; upgrading of instrumentation and monitoring equipment; improvement of the flood warning systems; refurbishment of hydro mechanical equipment of water intake and spillways; improvement of the flood routing capacity of the dam, etc.