DUSHANBE, December 22, Asia-Plus – A ceremonial meeting on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of Tajikistan’s energy sector opened in Dushanbe today morning
Prime Minister Oqil Oqilov addressed the meeting to congratulate Tajik power engineering workers on their professional holiday.
“Tajik power engineering was founded in 1936, when the Varzob-1 hydropower plant was constructed; it has the capacity of only 3.5 MW was constructed,” said a source at Barqi Tojik power holding, “Thus, Central Asia’s largest Norak hydroelectric power station constructed on the Vakhsh River in the Seventies has the capacity of 3,000 MW.”
Tajikistan tops the Central Asian region in terms of reserves of water and power resources and is second place among CIS states and eight place globally. Tajikistan’s reserves of water and power resources amount to 527 billion kWh per annum. At present the country is using only 3.4 percent of these reserves.
A total capacity of power plants operating in Tajikistan is 4,412.7 MW. 98 percent of Tajik electricity is generated by the hydroelectric power stations (HPS).
According to the source, the largest amount of electrical power was generated by Tajikistan in 1996 – 18 billion kWh. At present an annual generation of electricity in Tajikistan amounts to 15 billion kWh.
Tajikistan’s largest HPS is the Norak power plant having the capacity of 3,000 MW. The Baipaza plan has the capacity of 600 MW, Golovanaya 240 MW, and Qairoqqum plant 126 MW.
A total capacity of small hydropower plants operating in Tajikistan amounts to nearly 30 MW, the Barqi Tojik source noted.
At present Tajikistan is implementing projects to build Sangtuda-1, Sangtuda-2 and Roghun power plants on the Vakhsh River. When built these power plants will bring a total annual generation of electricity in the republic to 31billion-35 billion kWh.
