Tag Archives: electricity

World Bank endorses Tajik hydroelectric projects

MAY 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – In an interview with Tajik media outlet Asia Plus, Jorg Frieden, executive director at the World Bank in charge of its projects in Central Asia, underscored the eggshells the Bank and other international organisations must tread over when dealing with large scale energy projects in the region.

The Bank’s endorsement of hydroelectric projects, whether from a technical or financial point of view, is particularly important for Tajikistan, a country full of hydro potential, but with a track record of failing to attract foreign investment.

Dushanbe is also locked in a perennial conflict over its hydropower ambitions with downstream Uzbekistan. Uzbek President Islam Karimov has said that upstream dams in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan could trigger water wars if constructed.

The World Bank has already pledged $526m towards CASA-1000, a project that aims to deliver power from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to electricity-deficient Afghanistan and Pakistan further south.

Mr Frieden reiterated the bank’s support for CASA-1000 while acknowledging that Uzbekistan strongly opposed it.

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(News report from Issue No. 184, published on May 14 2014)

Kazakhstan’s police arrests Kazatomprom executive

APRIL 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh police arrested Valery Shevelyov, a director at Kazakh nuclear agency Kazatomprom, and his deputy, Serik Abdrazakov, for corruption. In 2009, Kazakhstan jailed Mukhtar Dzhakishev, then head of Kazatomprom and an opposition figurehead, for 14 years for corruption.

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(News report from Issue No. 178, published on April 2 2014)

Siemens eyes energy projects in Tajikistan

MARCH 9 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Officials from Siemens and the German Energy Agency (DENA) met with Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon in Dushanbe to discuss potential cooperation in the sector, giving Tajikistan’s struggling domestic energy sector a potential boost.

Tajikistan relies mainly on hydropower stations to generate much of its power but Mr Rakhmon’s pet project, the Rogun station, lacks investment and has aggravated relations with downstream Uzbekistan, a major cotton-producer.

Every winter, and it gets cold in Tajikistan, villages across the country face rolling blackouts as electricity rationing is introduced.

Last year German-Tajik trade amounted to just under €40.3m, less than a tenth of German-Uzbek trade and dwarfed by German-Kazakh trade which reached over €6.5b.

Perhaps, though, with the visit by Siemens, this is about to change.

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(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)

Uzbekistan updates power plant

FEB. 20 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan has started the $60m update of its Syrdarya Thermal Power Station, media reported. The Syrdarya Thermal Power Station is one of the biggest in Uzbekistan and is important as ordinary Uzbeks have been complaining of power shortages throughout the year.

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(News report from Issue No. 173, published on Feb. 26 2014)

Japan gives out a loan to Uzbekistan

JAN. 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan is looking to secure a $650m loan from the Japan International Development Agency (JICA) to build a thermal power plant in the Ferghana Valley, media reported. Japan has been looking to boost its influence in Central Asia over the past few years.

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(News report from Issue No. 170, published on Feb. 5 2014)

China and Russia invest in Kazakhstan’s power plant

JAN. 16 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — China and Russia have agreed to lend $400m for the modernisation of the Ekibastuz power plant in Kazakhstan, media reported. The coal-fired power plant in the northern region of Pavlodar is one of the biggest in Kazakhstan, generating an estimated 12% of the country’s energy.

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(News report from Issue No. 168, published on Jan. 22 2014)

ADB funds hydropower project in Tajikistan

DEC. 9 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Asian Development Bank, based in Manila, has agreed to give Tajikistan $136m to upgrade one of its biggest hydropower plants, media reported. This is the largest single ADB loan to Tajikistan. Tajikistan is heavily reliant on hydropower for its electricity. There are frequent shortages during winter.

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(News report from Issue No. 164, published on Dec. 11 2013)

Uzbekistan develops solar power

NOV. 25 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan clearly wants to burnish its solar power credentials.

It has discussed these credentials at length since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 and now appears to be taking a major step towards realising them.

The president of the Asia Development Bank, Takehiko Nakao, said that it had agreed a $110m loan to help finance the construction of a solar panel park near Samarkand. The Uzbek government has agreed to spend another $190m on the project.

The plan is to cover an area roughly the size of 560 football pitches (soccer pitches for our American readers) with solar panels.

It’s certainly ambitious, and so it should be. Sun drenches Uzbekistan for most of the year making it a good bet for solar power.

Solar power represents part of the answer to Uzbekistan’s power problems but only if the authorities don’t sell the electricity that the site generates abroad.

(News report from Issue No. 162, published on Nov. 27 2013)

Uzbekistan plans massive solar plant

NOV. 25 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Asian Development Bank unveiled plans to build a solar panel plant in Uzbekistan the size of 560 football pitches. If successful, the plant could become an important source of energy for Uzbekistan which experiences regular shortages.

(News report from Issue No. 162, published on Nov. 27 2013)

Kazakhstan buys nuclear assets

NOV. 23 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Igor Shkolnik, son of the head of Kazakhstan’s nuclear agency Kazatomprom, has bought a 14.9% stake in Russia’s Exillon Energy for about $115m, media reported. In 2011 Mr Shkolnik bought a stake in the Orsk refinery, Russia, from Rosneft. Analysts say he holds these investments for powerful members of the Kazakh elite.

(News report from Issue No. 162, published on Nov. 27 2013)