DUSHANBE, September 13, Asia-Plus — In July, USAID’s Regional Energy Markets Assistance Program (REMAP) for Central Asia organized a week long Regional Electric Market Development Study Tour for senior ministry officials, utility specialists, and regulatory officials from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan to examine how wholesale electricity markets operate in the United States, press release issued by the US Embassy in Dushanbe said.
The study tour included energy specialists from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.
The study tour is part of an ongoing process in which energy specialists, policy makers and regulatory officials are working with REMAP to design a conceptual model of a regional electricity wholesale market for Central Asia. REMAP is one of the many projects by the U.S Agency for International Development (USAID) in Central Asia. Since 1992, the American people through USAID have provided more than $1.5 billion in assistance to the region’s economic development, health care, education, and democratic institutions.
Central Asia’s specialists met with regulatory authorities responsible for balancing the interests of the consumer with the interests of power sector investors to assure fair, efficient and reliable operation of wholesale electricity markets. Participants visited the PJM Interconnection, the independent operator of the largest wholesale electricity market in the United States. U.S. electricity traders, high voltage network transmission owners, and load serving entities responsible for supplying the public with electricity shared their experience in the formation and operation of new electricity markets. On the concluding day of the trip, participants provided a public briefing in Washington, DC on the power sector of Central Asia. The briefing was attended by over 30 representatives of the U.S. electric power industry, potential investors, and senior officials of the U.S. Government.
The participants noted that the study tour improved their overall understanding of how competitive power markets are organized, how they are governed and how they function in a regulated environment. This is particularly important to the Republics of Central Asia as they continue their efforts to develop their own national and regional electricity markets that will improve the efficiency of the electric power sector, serve as a platform to attract new investment and provide an engine of economic growth for the entire region.
Rustam Rahimov, Deputy Chief Engineer of Tajikistan’s National Utility, Barqi Tojik, stressed the importance of regulation to fair and efficient operation of competitive wholesale markets. “Experience from USA markets, their legal and normative base can be utilized in the process of forming both regional electricity markets and Tajikistan’s national electricity market,” Rahimov noted.
