Tag Archives: hydro

Tajik state-firms’ debt deepens

JULY 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan’s national energy company Barqi Tojik has blamed another massive state-run concern, the aluminium smelter TALCO, for part of its growing $300m debt.

Over a third of Barqi Tojik’s debts are owed to a pair of hydroelectric power facilities, which TALCO officially co-owns with Russia and Iran. Other debts are unpaid taxes to the state, salary arrears, and unpaid loans.

In an interview with Asia-Plus, a Barqi Tojik official said TALCO owed the company $50 million in unpaid energy bills. TALCO, which as reported is itself suffering from a major slump in demand for its products, has denied the allegations.

Barqi Tojik and TALCO are two of Tajikistan’s most significant state-owned companies and both appear to be in trouble.

Barqi Tojik’s debts have grown as public sector clients like TALCO (which alone consumes at least a sixth of national energy production) and other major industrial facilities renege on payments. TALCO reportedly haemorrhaged $40m last year and laid off a fifth of its workforce. The company has suffered from low prices for aluminium and alleged corruption within the political elite. Tajikistan’s economy looks increasing fragile.

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(News report from Issue No. 193, published on July 30 2014)

World Bank OKs Tajik Rogun dam

JUNE 25 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – A draft report by the World Bank appears to give a green light for Tajikistan to build its controversial Rogun dam which Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon hopes will provide much need electricity. Human rights workers have said that the giant dam will force 42,000 people from their homes.

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(News report from Issue No. 190, published on June 25 2014)

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)

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)

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 skips meeting in Kyrgyzstan

OCT. 18 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan skipped a meeting in Bishkek to discuss details of a dam Kyrgyzstan intends to build across the Naryn River, Kyrgyz media reported. Kyrgyzstan’s plans to build a dam upstream of Uzbekistan have strained already tense relations between the two countries.

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(News report from Issue No. 157, published on Oct. 23 2013)

Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to sell power to Afghanistan

SEPT. 16 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan signed a deal to sell spare power to Pakistan and Afghanistan. The deal, signed in Islamabad, means building power cables from Central Asia. Hydropower stations in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan generate spare electricity in the summer while both Pakistan and Afghanistan suffer shortages.

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(News report from Issue No. 152, published on Sept. 18 2013)

Azerbaijan to build small hydropower stations

SEPT. 12 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s government plans to build 23 small hydropower stations, the ministry of industry and energy said. As Azerbaijan’s economy grows so does pressure on its power grid. Currently, hydropower generates around 12% of Azerbaijan’s power, a percentage it has said it wants to increase.

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(News report from Issue No. 152, published on Sept. 18 2013)

Kazakhstan ups spending in green energy

JUNE 5 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — As a statement of intent it was emphatic. Kazakhstan’s environmental protection minister Nurlan Kapparov told a news briefing in Astana on June 5 that the state would invest $3.2b a year until 2050 on developing alternative sources of power to reduce its reliance on coal.

Mr Kapparov said that this was the equivalent of 1% of Kazakhstan’s annual total GDP.

This scale of commitment is genuinely large and will put Kazakhstan in the top league of countries committed to reducing their reliance on coal-fired power stations.

Currently, coal-fired power stations generate about 80% of Kazakhstan’s power needs.

The initiative to push for green alternative power sources is an indicator of a developed economy, just the sort of image that Kazakhstan wants to project. It is also part of Kazakhstan’s wider policies for both power production and for winning EXPO-2017. One of the themes of EXPO-2017 is green energy.

Kazakhstan has already made headway in developing alternative energy. This year it has announced initiatives to boost wind, hydro-electric, solar and nuclear power.

Mr Kapparov said that he wanted to see green energy make up half of Kazakhstan’s total production by 2050.

(News report from Issue No. 138, published on June 10 2013)

A Kazakh mediator for the Rogun Dam

MARCH 29 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — In comments made on a trip to Dushanbe, Kazakh foreign minister Yerlan Idrissov appeared to signal Kazakhstan’s intent to mediate in a long-running dispute between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan over water rights, media reported. With Iran’s help, Tajikistan is building a dam that will effect water flow to Uzbekistan.

(News report from Issue No. 130, published on April 5 2013)