DUSHANBE, July 23, 2015, Asia-Plus — The Government plans to introduce the first to units of the Roghun hydroelectric power plant (HPP) within the next few years, Tajik Minister of Energy and Water Resources Usmonali Usmonzoda announced at a news conference in Dushanbe on July 22.
According to him, all necessary equipment for the first two units of the plant has already been delivered to the country.
“A total capacity of the first two units of the Roghun HPP is 800 MW,” the minister, noting that that capacity is enough to provide the country with electricity the year round.
We will recall that in response to a request by the Government of Tajikistan, the World Bank supported two studies to evaluate the viability of the proposed Roghun Hydropower Project according to international standards: Techno-Economic Assessment Study (TEAS); and Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA).
The assessment studies have been finalized after the fifth round of riparian consultations was completed in September last year and comments from government and civil society stakeholders were carefully considered.
The World Bank and the Government of Tajikistan reached an understanding in 2010 that no new construction would commence until after the assessment studies have been prepared, reviewed by the Panels of Experts, then shared and discussed with riparian nations. It was also agreed that there would be no further resettlement of residents from the proposed reservoir area until there is a resettlement framework plan in place to provide proper compensation or alternative housing.
The Roghun HPP is expected to have a reservoir with multi-year regulation mode with a dam height of 335 m, located on the Vakhsh River upstream of the existing Nurek HPP cascade. The installed capacity is proposed to be 6×600 MW (totaling 3,600 MW) and the annual power generation would be 13,300 GWh.
Tajikistan’s plans to build the Roghun HPP have raised serious concerns across the border in Uzbekistan. Uzbek officials argue that because it could take up to 18 years to fill, the Roghun project will severely reduce the amount of water flowing into Uzbekistan.
