KHUJAND, June 8, 2009, Asia-Plus — The hydroelectric power plant Qairoqqum in northern Tajikistan has reduced generation of electrical power nearly thee times in order to collect water for watering agricultural crops during the vegetation period, Abduvali Rasoulov, a chief specialist with the branch of Barqi Tojik power holding for Sughd, said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
According to him, evacuation of water from the reservoir powering the Qairoqqum HPP is regulated under interstate agreements and current rate of overflow of the reservoir is some 150 cubic meters per second. “The rate of inflow into the reservoir from Kyrgyzstan’s Toktagul reservoir that is in the upper reaches of the Syrdarya River has been reduced to 300 cubic meters per second, while in May, it amounted to more than 500 cubic meters per second,” Rasoulov said, noting that the Qairoqqum HPP currently generates 576 kWh of electricity per day against daily power supplies of 1.476 million kWh through May.
We will recall that in early March this year, the Qairoqqum station was operating only two of its six units to save water for the agricultural needs of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. In early March, the station was producing 560,000 kWh of electricity per day and Uzbekistan was compensating for the stoppage of the station’s four units by exporting electricity to the province.
