Tag Archives: hydro

Tajikistan hands out $3.9b contract to build Rogun dam

DUSHANBE, JULY 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan handed a $3.9bn contract to Italy’s Salini Impregilo to build the Rogun dam and hydroelectric power plant, a controversial project that sits at the heart of the country’s future energy production.

Salini Impregilo, Italy’s biggest construction company, said it had already received funding of $1.95b for the construction of a dam on the Vakhsh river, which will become the tallest in the world at 355m. A company spokesman said that work would start soon.

“The idea is to have two of the six turbines start producing energy for sale by 2018 in order to raise funding to complete the project,” the company said in a press release.

The Rogun dam project is controversial because it is opposed by down- stream Uzbekistan which worries that the complex will divert water away from its cotton fields. Environmentalists have also complained about the damage the dam will cause to the region’s lush valleys and human rights activists have exposed the forced eviction of thousands of people from the area.

Still, for Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon, the Rogun dam has become one of his pet projects. In 2011, he received a major boost when the World Bank endorsed it in two feasibility projects.

Around 70% of Tajikistan’s energy production comes from hydroelectric power stations. Once Rogun comes online, Tajikistan could become a hub for the region. It already plans to export electricity to Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Salini Impregilo has built 250 dams worldwide and in August 2015 it won a $575m contract to build the Nenskra hydropower plant in Georgia.

The company said it will build six power stations atRogun, with a total capacity of 3,600MW, roughly equivalent to Tajikistan’s current capacity.

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(News report from Issue No. 288, published on July 8 2016)

Georgians protest against hydro

JULY 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Residents of Chuberi, a small village in Georgia’s north-western province of Svaneti, held rallies against the construction of the Nenskra hydropower plant, saying that it would negatively impact their livelihood. Activists said that the power plant will sit in a dangerously seismic region and its construction on the Svaneti river could trigger landslides. The Nenskra plant will cost $1b to build and will be the second largest hydropower plant in the country when it is completed in 2019.

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(News report from Issue No. 288, published on July 8 2016)

Armenia’s power production drops

JULY 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia’s Statistics Committee said that electricity production shrank by 1.9% in Jan.-May 2016 compared to the same period last year. Overall, the Metsamor nuclear power plant produced more than a third of Armenia’s 3.2b kWh output. Importantly, hydropower stations surpassed thermal power plants in their share of total electricity output for the first time.

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(News report from Issue No. 288, published on July 8 2016)

Tajikistan hands out $3.9b contract to build Rogun

DUSHANBE, JULY 7 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan awarded a $3.9b contract to Italian construction company Salini Impregilo to build the controversial Rogun dam in the Pamir mountains.

The Soviet-era plan has been on hold for several years because of worries over its funding and opposition from Uzbekistan that it will siphon off water needed to irrigate its cotton fields.

The timing of the $3.9b deal for Salini Impregilo was unexpected and appears to suggest that the Rogun dam project is up and running once again.

Tajikistan needs the dam to boost electricity production. It suffers countless blackouts in winter, when there is less water generating hydropower, and has also committed itself to supplying both Pakistan and Afghanistan with power from 2018.

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(News report from Issue No. 288, published on July 8 2016)

Kyrgyzstan wants to import electricity from Tajikistan

JULY 6 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan wants to import 1.5-2m kWh of electricity every day from Tajikistan over the summer, Aleksey Borodin, deputy director of National Electric Network, told local media, another sign that its power generating systems are not operating at their expected levels. In 2015, Kyrgyzstan imported 146m kWh from Tajikistan, before they halted trade because of the completion of theDatka-Kemin transmission line in Kyrgyzstan which was supposed to ensure the country’s energy independence.

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(News report from Issue No. 288, published on July 8 2016)

Azerbaijan’s electricity production falls

JUNE 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s Statistics Committee said electricity production fell by 7% in the first five months of the year to 9.3b kWh, compared to the same period last year. Azerbaijan’s thermal power plants, which generate the bulk of electricity in the country, produced 10% less electricity than last year. Hydroelectric power plants increased production by 15%.

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(News report from Issue No. 286, published on June 24 2016)

Sangtuda-1 rows with Tajikistan’s Barqi Tojik

JUNE 13 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The administration of the Sangtuda-1 hydropower plant said it will not pay taxes until Tajikistan’s power distribution company Barqi Tojik pays for its electricity supplies. The hydropower company, co-owned by Russian and Tajik state-companies, said Barqi Tojik has piled up a debt of 628m somoni ($79m). Barqi Tojik is one of the most indebted state-owned companies in Tajikistan.

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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

RusHydro to invest in Armenia

JUNE 2 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The International Energy Corporation, a subsidiary of Russia’s state- owned electricity company RusHydro, said it would invest 18.9b dram (around $4m) into modernising the Yerevan-1 hydropower plant. Yerevan-1 is part of a seven-hydropower plant complex collectively called Sevan-Hrazdan Cascade. RusHydro owns a 90% stake in the company.

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(News report from Issue No. 283, published on June 3 2016)

Concern grows over Kyrgyz power generating capacity

BISHKEK, MAY 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A senior analyst questioned whether Kyrgyzstan will be able to hit its obligations for the CASA-1000 project that aims to supply Pakistan and Afghanistan with electricity generated by Tajik and Kyrgyz hydropower stations.

Most of the electricity needed for the CASA-1000 project is set to be produced by Tajikistan but Kyrgyzstan still has an important role to play. The problem is that its infrastructure and ability to ramp up output appears increasingly fragile.

Alexander Knyazev, political scientist, member of Russian Geographical Society and expert on Central Asia was downbeat about Kyrgyzstan’s prospects of playing a significant role in CASA-1000.

“Even in the long-term, this project has no prospects to me as it is not based on Kyrgyzstan’s and Tajikistan’s real capacities. The refurbishment and modernisation of Bishkek and Toktogul power plants require funds, which Kyrgyzstan does not have,” he told the Bulletin.

“Moreover, Pakistan is insisting on year-round delivery, whereas exports can only be seasonal.”

Mr Knyazev’s warning will worry international policymakers. The World Bank is funding most of the $1.2b cost of the project which the US has said is a major part of its north- south new Silk Road.

At the end of last year Kyrgyzstan’s biggest hyrdopower station at Toktogul broke down and a few weeks later Russia pulled out of a $2b project to build a new dam and hydropower station because a recession linked to the collapse in oil prices have heavily dented its spending power.

Construction on the CASA-1000 project was officially started this month.

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(News report from Issue No. 282, published on May 27 2016)

World Bank mulls Tajik hydropower help

MAY 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The World Bank said it would consider funding the modernisation of the Nurek hydropower plant in central Tajikistan. Located 70km east of Dushanbe, the 3,000 MW plant at Nurek produces around 70% of Tajikistan’s total electricity output. Earlier in May, Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon said it needs an investment of more than 4.7bn somoni (around $600m).

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(News report from Issue No. 281, published on May 20 2016)