DUSHANBE, March 27, 2009, Asia-Plus — Two Uzbek energy specialists — the winner of the 2008 contest for alternative energy and head of the Engineering Research Group (ERG) German Treshchalov and power engineering specialist Vladislav Treshchalov – have offered to build the hydroelectric power plant (HPP) at Lake Sarez in Gorno Badakhshan instead of the Roghun HPP, Russia’s news agency REGNUM reported on March 26.
The specialists consider that construction of the Sarez HPP might promote gradually lowering the water level at the lake. According to them, this will allow not accumulating water in the Roghun reservoir under construction that will be filling for another five-six years taking water from the downstream countries. Approximate accounts show that some 70-100 meter drawdown in Lake Sarez will allow releasing up to 6-8 billion cubic meters of water in the Aral Sea basin and the Aral Sea will receive additional water in several years, the news agency said.
The specialists say the Sarez hydroelectricity project could mitigate the risk of an outburst flood from Lake Sarez.
They say the initially built small hydropower plant will allow using the generated electrical power for further construction and development of infrastructure and further increase in the plant capacities. According to approximate accounts, the full use of power of 8 billion tons of water discharged to 400-500 meters down (tentative water fall of the future Sarez HPP) will allow generating no less than 7-9 billion kWh of electrical power per year, the Uzbek specialists say.
Moreover, this version allows retargeting funds intended for the Roghun hydroelectricity project and jointly using funds offered by different financial institutions for seeking solution to the Lake Sarez problem, the specialists said.
Implementation of this project will lead to consolidation of the Central Asian countries on solving regional problems, the Uzbek energy specialists concluded.
In the meantime, Tajikistan sees the Roghun hydropower dam as the best long-term solution to its perennial power woes. The 3,600 MWt Roghun hydroelectric plant is to generate 13 billion kWh of electricity per year. Construction of the Roghun HPP would substantially increase sales of electricity to neighboring China, as well as to Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Lake Sarez is a natural wonder of Tajikistan, containing 17 billion cubic meters of one of Central Asia’s scarcest commodities – water. Tajik leaders are now searching for a way to unlock the lake’s economic potential. The lake was created in the early 20th century, when an earthquake touched off a massive landslide in the Bartang Valley in the Pamir Mountains, creating a natural dam across the Murgab River. The mass of soil and rock holding back the water was dubbed the Usoy Damn. The lake extends for over 60 kilometers and in some spots is over 500 meters deep.
