Tag Archives: electricity

Turkmenistan signs Afghan power deal

NOV. 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan’s President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has signed a decree paving the way for Turkmen electricity supplies to Afghanistan until 2027, a move seemingly designed to increase stability in its southern neighbour as well as lock in a long-term client.

The Turkmen government announced the agreement through one of its official websites turkmenistan.ru.

It said that the contract now being finalised between Turkmenenenergo and their Afghan counterparts would run from Jan. 1 2018 until Dec. 31 2027.

It’s important because it highlights both Turkmenistan’s ability to negotiate long-term power deals for its neighbours and also its determination to help Afghanistan stabilise.

Turkmenistan needs a stable Afghanistan for two main reasons. It wants the Afghan government to be strong enough to be able to control a resurgent Taliban and it also needs Afghanistan to be a stable transit partner for the proposed TAPI pipeline running from its gas fields to consumers in India.

TAPI is vital for Turkmenistan. It needs to diversify its client base for gas as it is over-reliant on China.

Turkmenistan has been investing heavily in its power generating infrastructure. It sees the sector as another way of projecting itself on the international stage.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 256, published on Nov. 13 2015)

Tajik President travels to Pakistan for trade talks

NOV. 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajik president Emomali Rakhmon travelled to Islamabad for a two-day visit that will culminate with talks with Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif on plans to create a regional power market.

Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan hope to supply Pakistan and Afghanistan with power generated by their hydropower stations in a project dubbed CASA- 1000. The project is viewed as vital for increasing trade and diplomatic links between the neighbours.

And CASA-1000 already appears to be having a positive impact on relations between Tajikistan and its neighbours. This trip to Pakistan, will be Mr Rakhmon’s sixth.

An official at the Tajik embassy in Islamabad also said that wider trade relations would be discussed.

“During the Tajik president’s visit, they will discuss energy import, transit trade and linking the region through the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which will bring prosperity in the entire area,” the unnamed official told the Express Tribune newspaper.

Electricity is one of Tajikistan’s and Kyrgyzstan’s main exports. Pakistan and Afghanistan are deficient in electricity.

Tajikistan and Pakistan don’t share a land border. A sliver of Afghanistan separates the countries.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 256, published on Nov. 13 2015)

Azerbaijan plans wind farm

OCT. 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s Agency for Renewable Energy said it is developing a 200 megawatt wind farm in the Caspian Sea, to help diversify the country’s energy supply. The project will cost around 450-500m manat (around $450m). Azerbaijan, which has only minor renewable energy production, wants to reach a capacity of 2 gigawatt by the end of the decade.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)

Modernisation of power station starts in Kyrgyz capital

NOV. 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz PM Temir Sariyev inaugurated the second phase of a modernisation programme for the country’s biggest power plant outside Bishkek, a project considered vital for boosting the country’s decrepit power-generating infrastructure.

China agreed to fund the power plant upgrade, that will double capacity back to Soviet-era levels, in 2013 with a $386m loan from its Import-Export Bank. It handed the contract to strip out old Soviet-era kit and replace them with two new power producing units to China TBEA, a private company.

And Mr Sariyev was quick to praise China for its help in overhauling Kyrgyzstan’s power sector.

“I want to note the successful cooperation with China on the implementation of energy projects in the country and to express gratitude for the contribution to the economy of Kyrgyzstan,” he said according to media.

Earlier this year Kyrgyzstan opened a new power line that will transmit electricity from hyrdo- electric stations in the south of the country to its main population centres in the north without having to cross over Uzbek territory, as it had previously.

China has been investing heavily in infrastructure across Central Asia. It views this strategy as important for winning political influence.

Bishkek’s population is growing but its infrastructure has not been upgraded.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)

Japan’s Sumitomo to build Turkmenistan power plant

OCT. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation will build a $300m power plant in Turkmenistan, a significant move for relations between the countries and the Turkmen gas sector.

Sumitomo and state-owned Turkmengaz signed a deal on a new, 400 megawatt gas-fired thermal power plant to be built in the north of the country.

The deal was signed during Japanese PM Shinzo Abe’s visit to Turkmenistan. In total, Japan committed over $18b for various investments in energy and infrastructure projects in Turkmenistan, strengthening economic and diplomatic ties between Tokyo and Ashgabat.

Another Japanese company, Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems will provide the gas turbines for the new plant, which is expected to be completed by 2018.

The new plant will allow Turkmenistan to improve its electricity grid, boosting power generation in the north of the country, far removed from the gas-producing regions in the south. Demand for electricity is growing in Turkmenistan.

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