DUSHANBE, December 22, Asia-Plus  -- A ceremonial meeting, dedicated to a Day of Power Engineering Specialists and presided over by Sharifkhon Samiyev, chairman of Barqi Tojik (Tajik electric systems) power holding, was held in the city of Norak on December 22, Asia-plus has learned from the Barqi Tojik press service.   

The meeting participants included mainly specialists from the Norak hydroelectric power station (HPS).  

Addressing the meeting, Samiyev congratulated those present on their professional holiday.  The power holding top manager, in particular, noted that serious efforts were currently being carried out in the country to establish new electricity facilities.  

Hydropower engineering is the base for the electric energy sector of the country. Total capacity of acting power plants comprises 4,412.7 megawatts, 93-98% of which is being produced by hydropower plants.

It is estimated that the country has a hydroelectric energy potential of over 300 billion kWh per year, though the current utilization is about 3.2 percent of that.

The biggest hydropower plants in Tajikistan are Norak HPS (height of dam is 300 meters) with production capacity 3000 megawatts, Baipaza hydropower plant - 600 Megawatts, Golovnaya station - 240 megawatts, Qairoqqum hydropower plant - 126 megawatts. 

Small hydropower plants have big perspectives.  At present, their total capacity is about 30 megawatts.

Several new big hydropower plants are under planning and construction: Roghun hydropower plant with capacity 3600 megawatts, Sangtuda-1 station - 670 megawatts, Sangtuda-2 station - 220 megawatts.  Upon putting into operation of those hydropower plants electricity generation is expected to double.

Tajikistan’s current acute shortage of electricity is as much a matter of availability as of scarcity. The country has the eighth highest concentration of hydropower resources in the world, according to official data, yet it also has an electricity deficit, forcing Dushanbe to cover the shortfall with energy imports from other Central Asian countries, including Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.  

With 300 billion kW/h of potential hydropower in absolute terms, the country is sitting on a solution to many economic problems. Now, all it needs is investment to make hydropower more accessible.  Currently, resources in use fail to meet the nation’s demand.  

We will recall that introduction of the first of four units of Russia-built Sangtuda-1 station into operation, scheduled or December 21, was delayed until the end of the month or early January 2008, due some technical problems.          

Russia’s Unified Energy Systems (RAO YeES) has spent approximately $500 million to build Sangtuda-1, and the Russian entity retains a 75 percent share in the power plant, which will generate a projected 2.7 billion kWh of electricity per annum.  The power station will have an estimated capacity of 670 MW – enough to meet Tajikistan’s domestic needs and allow for the export of electricity, namely to Afghanistan.