DUSHANBE, January 15, Asia-Plus — Introduction of the first of four units of the Sangtuda-1 hydroelectric power station (HPS) into non-load operation, scheduled for January 14, has been postponed again.
Speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, Rekhmetulla Alzhanov, director of open joint stock company (OJSC) Sangtuda HPS-1, which is constructing the station, said, “The unit will be launched when everything is ready.”
According to him, specialists from Russia’s OJSC Siloviye Mashiny (Power Units), which supplies equipment to the station, are currently preparing the unit for launch. Andrey Rappoport, member of the board of Russia’s Unified Energy Systems (RAO YeES), is currently at the Sangtuda-1 site to monitor the situation.
An official launch of the first unit is scheduled for January 18, and according to Alzhanov, no change has so far been made to the date.
We will recall that Anatoly Chubais, head of Russia’s state-controlled energy entity YeES, last month said in an interview with Russia’s news agency Itar-Tass that he had approved the schedule of launch of the first unit – January 18, 2008. “I am sure we will launch it,” Chubais said, reminding that the first unit should have been launched in March 2008 but the Tajik government requested to speed up the launch of the first unit.
Russia’s Unified Energy Systems has spent approximately $500 million to build Sangtuda-1, and the Russian entity retains a 75 percent share in the power plant, which will generate a projected 2.7 billion kWh of electricity per annum. The power station will have an estimated capacity of 670 MW – enough to meet Tajikistan’s domestic needs and allow for the export of electricity, namely to Afghanistan.
In the meantime, Tajik national energy company Barqi Tojik (Tajik Electric Systems) says that electricity generated by the first of four units of the Sangtuda-1 plant will be used to meet requirements of southern Tajikistan in electrical power.
Rashid Gulov, deputy engineer-in-chief with Barqi Tojik, told Asia-Plus that the first unit of the Sangtuda-1 plant would have a capacity of generating up to 2.5 million kWh of electricity per day. “Electricity generating by the unit will go to meeting requirements of the population of southern Tajikistan in electrical power,” Gulov said, adding that a 220-kV power grid “Sangtuda-Lolazor” had been constructed to transmit electricity to Khatlon.
In the meantime, construction of the power-transmission line “Lolazor-Khatlon” is under way and expected to be completed in March. China’s TBEA, which has been granted the contract to construct the power grid, has to date installed more than 150 Chinese transformers.
The grid will transmit electric power generated by the Sangtuda-1 hydropower plant to the Kulob group of districts and other districts of the Khatlon province.
Barqi Tojik and TBEA signed contracts for the construction of high-voltage electricity transmission lines in Tajikistan in April 2006. They agreed to build the 500-kV, 350-kilometer “South-North” line, linking Tajikistan”s southern and northern regions, and a 220-kV 93-kilometer line, called the “Lolazor-Khatlon” line, in the Khatlon province.
The “South-North” line will be able to transmit up to 8 billion kWh of electricity a year; the capacity of the “Lolazor-Khatlon” line will be some 4 billion kWh of electricity a year.
