DUSHANBE, April 20, 2010, Asia-Plus — Press service of open joint-stock company (OJSC) Sangtudinskaya GES-1, which operates the Sangtuda-1 station, reports that the station has generated 555 million kWh of electricity over the first three months of this year, which is 18 percent more than it was originally planned.
The Sangtuda-1 HPP generated 183.1 million kWh of electricity in January, 186.4 million kWh in February and 185.7 million kWh in March.
The station has four units and the second unit that was introduced into operation in July 2008 has bee under the planned repair-and-service operations since April 12. The unit is expected to be reintroduced into operation in several months. Under the station’s design mode, three units are in operation and one unit is kept in reserve, the press service said.
We will recall that President Emomali Rahmon and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev officially unveiled the fourth and last unit of the Sangtuda-1 HPP on July 31, 2009.
The construction of the Sangtuda-1 hydropower plant located some 110 kilometers southeast of Dushanbe began in the late 1980s. By the early 1990s, only 20% of the construction work had been completed, and further construction was suspended due to a civil war that broke out in Tajikistan in the early 1990s. The talks between Russia and Tajikistan on completing the construction of the Sangtuda-1 HPP began in 2003 and in 2004 the parties signed an inter-governmental agreement. On February 16, 2005, Russia’s Inter RAO YeES and the Ministry of Energy and Industries of Tajikistan signed an agreement on the establishment of Russian-Tajik OJSC Sangtudinskaya GES-1 in Dushanbe.
Russia retains a 75 percent share in the power plant, which generates a projected 2.7 billion kWh of electricity per annum. Russia’s contribution to the project amounts to some 700 million U.S. dollars. The power station has an estimated capacity of 670 MW.
