KULOB, May 26, Asia-Plus — Test of the power grid Lolazor-Khatlon was conducted on May 24, Mirzo Ismoilov, the head of the Kulob electric systems enterprise, said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
We will recall that a 220-kV 93-kilometer power transmission line Lolazor-Khatlon was supposed to be introduced into operation in March but the introduction was postponed as extreme winter weather had slowed the construction work.
The Lolazor-Khatlon power grid has been constructed by China’s Tebian Electric Apparatus Stock Co., Ltd (TBEA). In April 2006, Barqi Tojik (Tajik electric systems) power holding and TBEA signed contracts for the construction of high-voltage electricity transmission lines in Tajikistan. They agreed to build the 500-kV, 350-kilometer South-North line, linking power systems of Tajikistan”s southern and northern regions, and a 220-V 93-kilometer line, called the “Lolazor-Khatlon” line, in the Khatlon province.
A total cost of the Lolazor-Khatlon project is $58 million. The Chinese side provides $55.1 million in preferential loan, carrying an annual interest of 2 percent, and Tajikistan contributes $2.9 million to the project budget. The capacity of the Lolazor-Khatlon power grid will be some 4 million kWh of electricity a year and it will allow exporting Tajik electrical power to Afghanistan.
In the meantime, 110-kW power transmission lines operating in the region will be used for supplying electrical power to the Vose district and the city of Kulob. “Besides, new transformers with capacity of 120,000 kilovolt-ampere are being installed on the sub-stations that will allow avoiding technological power losses,” said Ismoilov. “It will also allow creating power ring Shuroobod-Khovaling-Muminobod-Kulob, which will be able to compensate electricity shortages in any branch of the regional power system.”
In the meantime, construction of a small power plant with capacity of 40 kW started in the village of Yol in Shuroobod.
Speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, the Shuroobod chairman Ibrohim Azizov said that electrical power generated by that plant would be enough to provide with electricity the village and rural hospital and two schools.
