DUSHANBE, April 26, 2013, Asia-Plus — The Ministry of Energy and Industries (MoEI) has hosted a meeting today with participation of representatives of civil society and media to discuss the Central Asia South Asia Electricity Transmission and Trade Project (CASA 1000).
The meeting is presided over by Deputy Minister of Energy and Industries, Poulod Muhididnov.
Central Asia – South Asia Regional Electricity Market (CASAREM) – is a concept for developing electricity trade among the countries of the two regions through a set of projects and associated investments, underpinned by the relevant institutional arrangements and legal agreements.
To pursue this idea, four countries, including Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in Central Asia and Afghanistan and Pakistan in South Asia, have agreed to develop the first project under CASAREM, with more than two countries involvement. The project aims to establish the necessary transmission and trading infrastructure and systems to enable a trade of about 1300 MW of electricity between Central Asia and South Asia, and is referred to as CASA-1000.
The Project, which is still at the stage of elaboration, is expected to develop the necessary physical infrastructure and create the institutional and legal framework to transmit surplus power available from existing generation facilities in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to Afghanistan and Pakistan. The physical infrastructure for CASA 1000 is likely to include: a 500 kV high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission system between Tajikistan and Pakistan through Afghanistan; an AC transmission link from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to connect to the HVDC line from Tajikistan to South Asia; and the necessary electricity sub-stations in Kabul, Peshawar and Sangtuda (in Tajikistan).
The direct implementation of the Project is expected to start at the beginning of the next year.
The World Bank and the Islamic Development Bank have reportedly expressed their readiness to finance the Project. Besides, Russia expressed interest to invest 500 million U.S. dollars in the CASA 1000 project.
