Representatives from energy companies of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan assembled in Almaty on 30 and 31 July to discuss a regional model of power transmission, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) Regional Office said.
“The meeting was organized by the USAID Project on creation of regional model of power transmission network (CARTRANS), which is realized by the US Energy Association for planning and improvement of power flows over the region,” the press release reported.
Creation of computer model of Central Asia’s high-voltage network, which is being developed with the assistance of USAID, will enable the countries of the region to plan and manage more efficiently the power flows among participant-countries. The model will be launched in October 2008, Trend Capital reported.
The Central Asian system of power transmission includes national energy systems of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, as well as, the south of Kazakhstan. This system, which was established in the Soviet period, assumes dependence of the countries on one another and requires joint planning of energy flows.
“The joint model of the regional energy network will inform on capacities of power transmission at each sector of the system, Sergey Yelkin, a USAID power engineering specialist, said. It will enable the national planning organizations to optimize the quantity of transmitted energy and to reduce the number of electricity cutoffs, especially in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
Similar regional models on planning of energy transmission have been established with the assistance of the USAID in the Black Sea region, including Armenia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldova, Rumania, Turkey and Ukraine.
“This model assists the participant-countries to determine priority investment in energy system. For example, Georgia plans to expand electricity transmission network for transit of excess electricity from Azerbaijan to Turkey. Expansion of the network will give birth to a new income source for Georgia and ensure its access to electricity during power shortages in the country,” Will Polen, the manager of the USAID project, said.
CARTRANS is one of numerous projects of the USAID in the Central Asia, which have been possible because of the American nation’s aid. The US people have allocated more than $1.5bln through the USAID to the program on development of democratic institutions, health, education and economy in the region since 1992.
