The second largest hydroelectric power plant operating in Tajikistan – Sangtuda-1 HPP — may suspend its operations due to the fact that Tajikistan’s Ministry of Energy and Water Resources (MoEWR) has not granted the work permits to the plant for already several months without explaining the reason.
This is stated in an appeal of the Open joint-Stock Company (OJSC) Sangtudinskaya GES-1, which operates the Sangtuda-1 HPP, to a MoEWR.
The appeal, in particular, notes that the company is currently forced to work without following licenses:
– The license for the right of carrying activities on installation, adjustment and repair of power facilities and equipment to carry out installation activities (license expired November 13, 2022)
– The license for the right of generating, transmitting and distributing electricity (the license expired on May 15, 2023).
Besides, the tariff for electricity supplied by OJSC Sangtudinskaya GES-1 to OJSC Barqi Tojik (Tajikistan’s national power utility company) for the second part of this year (July-December) has not yet been approved.
The appeal says that according to information they have, “Barqi Tojik does not approve the tariff on the initiative and direction of the MoEWR.”
It is noted that an application for renewal of the first license has been under review of the Ministry of energy and Water Resources for already eight months and the application for renewal of the second license has been under review of the Ministry for already three months.
The appeal highlights that OJSC Sangtudinskaya GES-1 has repeatedly contacted the MoEWR on this subject, however, the MoEWR has not yet taken the corresponding decision for unknown reasons.
The appeal warns that further delay in resolving these issues may lead to the plant shutdown that “in its turn will lead to a shortage of electricity in the country’s power system, especially during autumn-winter period.”
Meanwhile, the Minister of Energy and Water Resources Daler Juma noted during the news conference today that the issue of the renewal of the licenses is still under consideration.
The minister refrained from giving the reasons for such a long delay in granting the licenses to OJSC Sangtudinskaya GES-1. He also did not say when approximately the company will receive permits, if it gets them at all.
Russian-Tajik OJSC Sangtudinskaya GES-1 was established to complete the construction of the Santuda-1 power plant. Russia’s Inter RAO YeES and the Ministry of Energy and Industries of Tajikistan signed an agreement on the establishment of the company in Dushanbe on February 16, 2005.
Russia owns 75% percent of the shares minus one share and Tajikistan assumes the 25% ownership interest plus one share in Sangtudinskaya GES-1.
The construction of the Sangtuda-1 hydropower plant located some 110 kilometers southeast of Dushanbe began in the late 1980s. By the early 1990s, only 20% of the construction work had been completed, and further construction was suspended due to a civil war that broke out in Tajikistan in the early 1990s. The talks between Russia and Tajikistan on completing the construction of the Sangtuda-1 HPP began in 2003 and in 2004 the parties signed an inter-governmental agreement.
Tajik and Russian presidents officially unveiled the fourth and last unit of the Sangtuda-1 HPP on July 31, 2009.
Barqi Tojik is the only buyer of electricity generated by the Sangtuda-1 HPP.
Meanwhile, OJSC Sangtudinskaya GES-1 seeks an opportunity to sell electricity generated by the Sangtuda-1 HPP itself.
The company has repeatedly raised the issue of increasing the supply of electricity generated by the Sangtuda-1 HPP and independently exporting it at different levels.
Representative of OJSC Sangtudinskaya GES-1 say that according to the agreements concluded, the company has the right “to sell electricity generated by the Sangtuda-1 HPP in accordance with direct contracts and export it by itself.”
These rights are reportedly enshrined in a government-to-government agreement between Tajikistan and Russia on a procedure and conditions for joint participation in construction of the Sangtuda-1 HPP and in a government-to-government agreement on operation of this hydropower plant.
The Government of Tajikistan wants to review the agreement signed with the Government of Russia on payment of electricity generated by the Sanfgtuda-1 hydroelectric power plant (HPP) as it wants to pay for electricity generated by the Sangtuda-1 HPP in Russian rubles.
This is one of the points of the Plan of Actions to Prevent the Impact of Possible Risks on the National Economy, which was adopted by the Tajik Government on March 18, 2022.
