DUSHANBE, October 11, 2012, Asia-Plus — This year, Tajikistan, has reportedly lost 204 million U.S. dollars due to idle discharge of water from reservoirs of power plants of Vakhsh Cascade during the summer period.
According to data of Barqi Tojik (the state-owned utility responsible for generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity in Tajikistan), a total volume of idle discharge of water this year has amounted to 6.8 million kWh.
“Current average price of one kWh of electricity is 3 cents and Tajikistan could receive 204 million U.S. dollars from selling surplus electricity during the summer period,” said an official source at Barqi Tojik. “But since there was no a product market, we had to discharge water from all reservoirs of hydropower plants of Vakhsh Cascade at idle.”
Until December 2009, Tajikistan had supplied surplus electricity to Uzbekistan and via Uzbek power system to Kazakhstan and southern Russia.
But Uzbekistan in December 2009 left the Soviet-era power grid that united it with its three Central Asian neighbors. Uzbek officials criticized the regional grid as an outdated and unreliable that caused problems and disagreements among its members while Tajik officials criticized Uzbekistan’s decision as an effort to put pressure on neighbors.
Today the only importer of Tajik electricity is Afghanistan, which is receiving electricity from Tajikistan via the Sangtuda HPP – Pul-i Khumri power transmission line during the summer period. Under an agreement between power companies of the two countries, electricity supplies to Afghanistan are suspended when power shortages occur in Tajikistan itself.
