Barqi Tojik (Tajikistan’s national power utility company) says water levels in a reservoir powering the Nurek hydroelectric power plant (HPP) are increasing and most likely there will be no need to impose power rationing in the country.
“Water levels in the Nurek HPP reservoir are gradually increasing and we hope that there will be no necessity for imposing power rationing in the country,” Barqi Tojik spokesman Nozirjon Yodgori told Asia-Plus in an interview.
Recall, the Tajik Government noted In a statement released on July 28 that low water levels in the Nurek reservoir were caused by little snowfall in the mountains during the winter and restrictions on power supply will be imposed.
The government said the limit on electricity supply will aim at saving water in the reservoir, which is used by the Nurek hydropower station.
The Government asks the population to understand the decision of the country’s national power utility company to impose restrictions on the supply of electricity.
According to the statement, the water level in the Nurek reservoir is 17-meters lower compared to previous years. Fifty percent less water is reportedly running in the Vakhsh and Panj rivers that feed into the reservoir.
Given the current situation, each citizen, each family, all organizations, companies and enterprises, irrespective of forms of property, must ensure economical use of electricity, the statement says.
The statement said that, if low water levels continue, it may create problems providing electricity to the population and industrial facilities across the country in the autumn and winter.
The government is reportedly taking all necessary measures so that the population of the country does not face problems in the autumn-winter period.
Tajikistan had reportedly cut off electricity exports to Uzbekistan and Afghanistan. Tajikistan said it had stopped delivering electricity to neighboring Uzbekistan and Afghanistan because diminished river levels caused by a winter of reduced snowfall had constrained output at the Nurek hydropower plant.
Power rationing is usually introduced in Tajikistan in October or November and lasts through March or April next year. The rationing results in the supply of daily electrical power being reduced to 12 or 10 hours. In addition to curbing rising consumption, the move also stems from a decline in the water level in the country’s reservoirs powering the main hydroelectric power plants.
Measures rationing electricity supplies are introduced in all regions, except Dushanbe, province administrative centers and the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO), and seek to curb the country’s rising electricity consumption.
In GBAO, Tajikistan’s only private power company, Pamir Energy Company (Pamir Energy), operates. This company is responsible for electricity deliveries in the region and the majority of districts in Gorno Badakhshan now have regular power supply.
