DUSHANBE, November 16, 2009, Asia-Plus — As the case stands it seems that further functioning of the unified Central Asian power grid without necessary coordination is impossible, a statement released by the Uzbek Embassy in Dushanbe said.
According to the statement, many speculations and comments on Uzbekistan’s decision to withdraw from the unified Central Asian power grid are superficial and do not reflect the actual state of affairs.
Central Asia”s power grid is the product of Soviet times, when the countries of the region were part of the same territory and the region’s power networks were financed from the common center through the Ministry of Energy of the Soviet Union, said the statement. But now these power systems are linking independent.
It is to be noted that during the post-Soviet period, operation of the Central Asia power grid has been ensured by just giving word of honor and practically no coordination has been left that made the grid so vulnerable that separate participants began siphoning off electricity from the unified Central Asian grid in their own interests out of control that has resulted in the grid malfunctioning, negatively impacting neighboring countries, the statement said.
Kazakhstan serves as an example. The country withdrew from the grid twice because from January to March 2009.
The latest example a is blackout that hit Tajikistan in the morning of November 9 that was caused by spontaneous shutdown of all Tajik hydropower plants on the Vakhsh River, including the Sangtuda-1 hydroelectric power plant (HPP).
According to the statement, the accident was allegedly caused by most blatant violation of technological regimes. “Unfortunately, the accident affected Uzbekistan’s power systems as well…” the statement said.
Under the emerged situation, one may make two undoubted conclusions: 1) it is impossible to ensure further functioning of the unified Central Asian power grid without necessary authorizations and rights because illegally siphoning off electricity from the grid poses serious threat to stable operation of national power systems; and 2) in the future, all issues related to coordination of operation of the national power systems should be solved in accordance with the established procedure on the basis of bilateral and multilateral agreements between the countries of the region in accordance with international practice, the statement said.
