Nozirdjon Yodgori, a spokesperson for the company Barqi Tojik, wrote an article for Jumhuriyat newspaper, government’s mouthpiece, where he commented on issues related to electricity limits in Tajikistan, electricity exports to Afghanistan, and the construction of new hydroelectric stations.
In his article, Mr. Yodgori noted that every year in winter, the water levels in the reservoirs powering hydropower plants decrease, which leads to the introduction of electricity rationing in the country.
According to him, during this period, the main source of hydropower in Tajikistan is the reservoir powering the Nurek hydropower plant Reservoir.
While in summer, up to 2000 cubic meters of water per second flow into the Nurek reservoir, in winter, the inflow drops to 100-150 cubic meters per second.
"Every cubic centimeter of water counts now because we have only 53 meters of water left from the current 910 meters to the critical level of 857 meters, and only with precise and economical use of this reserve can we provide the population and the country's economy with electricity until spring," writes Yodgori.
In response to the question, "Why were power plants built, but limits still remain?" he explained that as the population of Tajikistan increased, so did the demand for electricity.
"Before 1991, the country had only 358 industrial enterprises with 33,000 jobs, but now there are more than 3,000, and the number of jobs has increased to 54,000," Yodgori emphasized.
He added that the government of Tajikistan has allocated 85.7 billion somonis for the repair and modernization of the country's energy system.
"The system, whose equipment was approaching the end of its 75-year service life, has been updated and modernized. If we had not done this, we might have ended up without electricity at all," said the Barqi Tojik spokesperson.
Mr. Yodgori confirmed that Tajikistan indeed signed a contract with the company Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS) for electricity exports to Afghanistan, adding that this contract is valid from May to September, and during the period of electricity restrictions, all the electricity is used within Tajikistan.
