DUSHANBE, February 21, 2011, Asia-Plus — Barqi Tojik power holding (the state-owned utility responsible for generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity in Tajikistan) and Ukraine’s open joint stock company (OJSC) Turboatom have concluded an agreement on further modernization of Tajikistan’s largest Norak hydroelectric power plant (HPP).
Under this agreement, the remaining seven of nine units at the Norak HPP will be rehabilitated, the source at Barqi Tojik said.
“To-date, the Ukrainian company has produced rotors for Units 3 and 8,” said the source, “In April, the third rotor produced by Turboatom will be delivered to the country.”
According to him, the agreement provides for production of rotors and spare parts for hydraulic hitch at the Norak HPP within the next five or six years.
In the meantime, Turboatom’s website reports they have received a large order for production of components and units for the Roghun HPP in Tajikistan. “Roghun will be the largest hydropower plant in Tajikistan and we have already supplied two rotors and equipment for hydraulic hitch for this plant,” the website says.
Turboatom specializes in the production of turbines for thermoelectric and nuclear power stations, hydraulic turbines for hydroelectric power stations and hydro-accumulator stations, gas turbines for thermoelectric power stations, and steam-and-gas equipment as well as other energy equipment. A 75.22% stake in the enterprise belongs to the state and is managed by the State Property Fund.
We will recall that the Norak Dam is an earth fill embankment dam on the Vakhsh River. At 300 meters it is currently the tallest dam in the world. Construction of the dam began in 1961 and was completed in 1979, when Tajikistan was still a republic within the Soviet Union. The Norak Dam is uniquely constructed, with a central core of cement forming an impermeable barrier within a 300 meter-high rock and earth fill construction. The volume of the mound is 54 million m³. The dam includes nine hydroelectric generating units, the first commissioned in 1972 and the last in 1979.
A total of nine hydroelectric turbines are installed in the Norak Dam. Originally having a generating capacity of 300 megawatts each (2,700 megawatts total), they have since been redesigned and retrofitted such that they now combine to produce 3,000 megawatts. Units 1,2,3,4,6,7,8, and 9 now have capacity of 335 megawatts each and Unit 5 now has capacity of 320 megawatts.
