DUSHANBE, January 12, 2013, Asia-Plus  -- 282 small hydropower plants with a total capacity of 25,200 kW have been built in Tajikistan over the years of independence, according to the Ministry of Energy and Industries (MoEI).

“17 small hydropower plants with a total capacity of 1,900 kW were built in the country last year alone,” an official source at a MoEI said.

In all, 14.7 million somoni (equivalent to some 3.08 million U.S. dollars) were spent for construction of those hydropower plants.  Grants and funds from local budgets were used for construction of three hydropower plants and the remaining fourteen power plants were built due local private investments, the source said.

116 small power plants now operates in districts subordinate to the center, 91 in Sughd province, 43 in Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO), and 32 in Khatlon province.

The source further added that 70 more small hydropower plants would be built in Tajikistan by 2015.  “Construction of 14 small hydropower plants with a total capacity of 16,065 kW is at the stage of completion.  Eleven of them are being built due to grants and construction of three others is funded by local investors.”

As far as the alternative energy sources are concerned, the MoEI says that nine wind turbines with a total capacity of 5 kW and 2,700 solar panels have been installed in some regions as experiment.