KHUJAND, January 19, 2009, Asia-Plus — The hydroelectric power plant (HPP) Qairoqqum in the Sughd province is expected to resume operation at maximum levels today evening, deputy Qairoqqum mayor, Rahmat Burhonov, said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
According to him, repairs to the station were completed yesterday evening and five of six generators of the station are already working, generating 1.9 million kWh of electrical power per day. “The sixth unit will be reintroduced into operation today evening, increasing the generation of daily electricity to 2.2 million kWh,” the deputy mayor said.
As it had been reported earlier, the Qairoqqum HPP was closed last Thursday at 1:55 am because of generator 6 trouble and flooding of turbine room.
Built in 1957, the Qairoqqum HPP with rated capacity of 126,000 KW has six generators and it is capable to generate 600-700 million kWh of electricity per year. It is to be noted that the Qairoqqum station provides electricity supplies to some 30 percent of Sughd’s population.
However, electricity supplies situation in northern Tajikistan remains serious. On January 17, 5.095 million kWh of electricity were supplied to the Sughd province, while on January 18, the supply of daily electricity was reduced to 4.33 million kWh. Meanwhile, the province’s daily requirements in electricity are 14-15 million kWh and 7-8 million kWh with taking into account electricity rationing.
According to the branch of Barqi Tojik power holding, residential customers in Khujand now have electricity five years per day (two hours of electricity in the morning and three hours in the evening), while other cities and districts have electricity only two hours per day (one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening). Only the strategic sites such as airport, hospitals and others receive electricity regularly.
