Restoration of outdoor switchgear at Nurek hydroelectric plant being financed by ADB

DUSHANBE — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide Tajikistan a $54.7 million [USD] grant to relocate them to a more stable area of the Nurek hydroelectric plant, according to ADB representative in Tajikistan Tatyana Yevstifeyeva.

The grant will finance restoration of two 500-kilovolt (kV) switchgears required for uninterrupted transmission of electricity. That will result in a shut down for repairs of part of the system built 30 years ago that can no longer provide a steady supply of electricity. Furthermore, unstable ground at the current location has caused some sections of the switchgear to settle, posing the threat of transmission breakdowns.

The reconstruction will cost $66.8 million with the government of Tajikistan providing the remaining $12.2 million needed to fully fund the project.

The Head of Energy Policy at Tajikistan’s Energy and Industry Ministry Abdullo Kurbonov said equipment is already being replaced at a 220-kV outdoor switchgear under a 25 million euro loan provided by German development bank Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau.

The Nurek hydroelectric plant with a capacity of 3,000 megawatts generates more than 70 percent of the electricity in Tajikistan. The plant also plays a key role in the power supply of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

The accumulation of mud in the Nurek plant reservoir is another matter that worries Tajik power engineers. The reservoir is not just important to the hydroelectric plant; it also accumulates and supplies water to other Central Asian countries during the summer to irrigate their crops.

Specialists believe, however, that the completion of the Rogun hydroelectric plant upstream on the Vakhsh River will serve as a filter for the reservoir, which will solve the mud problem at Nurek.