DUSHANBE, August 7, 2013, Asia-Pus -- In summer, an average rate of idle discharge of water from reservoirs of power plants of Vakhsh Cascade is 600 cubic meters per second, according to Barqi Tojik (the state-owned utility responsible for generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity in Tajikistan).

“The idle discharge of water begins in July and lasts through September because there is no outlet for Tajik electrical power during summer period,” an official source at Barqi Tojik said.   

According to Barqi Tojik, Tajikistan last year lost 204 million U.S. dollars due to idle discharge of water from reservoirs of power plants of Vakhsh Cascade during the summer period.  A total volume of idle discharge of water last year reportedly amounted to 6.8 million kWh.  An average price of one kWh of electricity was 3 cents and Tajikistan could receive 204 million U.S. dollars from selling surplus electricity during the summer period.   

Until December 2009, Tajikistan had supplied surplus electricity to Uzbekistan and via Uzbek power system to Kazakhstan and southern Russia.  But Uzbekistan in December 2009 left the Soviet-era power grid that united it with its three Central Asian neighbors.   Uzbek officials criticized the regional grid as an outdated and unreliable that caused problems and disagreements among its members while Tajik officials criticized Uzbekistan’s decision as an effort to put pressure on neighbors.

Today the only importer of Tajik electricity is Afghanistan, which is receiving electricity from Tajikistan via the Sangtuda HPP – Pul-i Khumri power transmission line during the summer period.  Currently, the supply of the daily electrical power to Afghanistan amounts to 5-5.2 million kWh.  Under the agreement between power companies of the two countries, electricity supplies to Afghanistan are suspended when power shortages occur in Tajikistan itself.