FEB. 16 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Iran will lend 83m euro to build a third power transmission line from Armenia, the Iranian media reported. Iran has become an increasingly important importer of electricity from Armenia over the past few years. Armenia has also increased imports of Iranian gas. Relations between the two neighbours have blossomed.
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(News report from Issue No. 317, published on Feb.17 2017)
FEB. 13 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan has increased its electricity production by 7.4% so far this year compared to the same period in 2016, media reported quoting government officials. This is important because Turkmenistan sees electricity as a second major export after gas and has been investing heavily in infrastructure. It has also said that it wants to export electricity along a route built adjacent to the TAPI pipeline that will pump gas to Pakistan and India. This will rival the World Bank-backed CASA-1000 electricity power line being built from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
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(News report from Issue No. 317, published on Feb.17 2017)
YEREVAN, FEB. 7 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — A group of Western finance organisations lead by The World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) agreed to lend ContourGlobal Hydro Cascade, a subsidiary of the US group by the same name, $140m to upgrade the Armenian Vorotan hydropower plant.
Upgrading the 404MW Vorotan hydropower plant is considered vital to boosting Armenia’s green power output. It was built by the Soviet Union in the 1970s and has only been patched up in a piecemeal fashion since.
Importantly, too, the upgrade scheme will created hundreds of jobs in the mountainous Syunik province of southeast Armenia, the rural and underdeveloped region where the plant is sited.
“This is the first time we are putting together very large, long-term financing package for an infrastructure project in Armenia,” the IFC said.
The deal was struck on Dec. 29. It involved a $45m loan from the IFC, $65m from FMO, the Dutch development bank, and $30m from DEG, the German Investment and Development Corporation.
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(News report from Issue No. 316, published on Feb. 10 2017)
BISHKEK, FEB. 1 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — A delay in handing out a contract to build two converter stations has pushed back the start date of the CASA-1000 project which aims to send electricity generated by hydropower stations in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Pakistan’s Express-Tribune newspaper quoted an unnamed Pakistani official as saying that French engineering company Alstom had asked for more time to put in a bid to build two converter stations.
“Four countries that are part of the project – Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan and Pakistan – have agreed to give relaxation in the timeframe keeping in view the request of Alstom, which is a credible name and a major supplier of converter stations across the world,” the newspaper quoted the official as saying.
“Now, this project is likely to be ready in 2020.”
CASA-1000 had been due to start up either at the end of this year or in 2018. It is backed by the World Bank and is considered a vital economic and strategic link between Central Asia and South Asia, binding the two regions together, providing an export product for Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan and electricity for Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The two converter stations are vital to the CASA-1000 project. One will be sited in Tajikistan and the other in Pakistan.
The value of the tender has not been released but the names of the companies bidding for it have been. They are the US’ GE, Japan’s Mitsubishi, Germany’s Siemens and Alstom.
For the West the CASA-1000 project also has major significance as the physical implementation of the north-south Silk Road trade route that Hillary Clinton touted in 2011 when she was US Secretary of State.
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(News report from Issue No. 315, published on Feb. 3 2017)
JAN. 19 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan said it wanted to build an electricity transmission line alongside the so-called TAPI gas pipeline that, if it all goes to plan, will pump Turkmen gas to Pakistan and India, across Afghanistan, potentially challenging the World Bank-backed CASA-1000 project which will supply Pakistan with electricity generated by hydropower stations in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Turkmenistan has been building gas-fuelled power stations and wants to become known for its electricity, and gas, exports.
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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)
JAN. 14 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan cancelled electricity rationing because a new thermal power station has come online and the water levels in its reservoirs, vital for turning the hydropower stations, are high. This is important because power rationing had become a staple of Tajik life every winter. Tajikistan wants to turn itself into something of a regional electricity hub.
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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)
ALMATY, DEC. 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) pledged to give Kazakh businessmen 200m euros to improve the country’s renewable energy sector.
For the EBRD the motivation is to boost Kazakhstan’s green energy production. Solar and wind generate only around 1% of Kazakhstan’s power at the moment. Hydro produces around 13% of its power and the rest is generated by smoke belching coal-powered stations.
“Once all the projects come on- stream, annual CO2 emissions are expected to reduce by about 600,000 tonnes, which would help the country to achieve its commitments to cut emissions under the Paris climate agreement,” the EBRD said in a statement.
The 2015 Paris Agreement was a global deal to cut carbon emissions.
Kazakhstan may once have turned its nose up at taking EBRD cash to produce green energy. Now, though, it is happy to go along with the concept. It is struggling to see off a steep economic downturn that has hit its revenues. Oil and gas are its major exports but prices have halved.
And, alongside a fall in revenues, Kazakhstan also needs to boost power. Its population has swelled and grown richer, demanding more power.
It still needs to replace a nuclear power station that was decommissioned in the 1990s. Plans to build a replacement have been scrapped for the time being and a thermal power plant that was being built on the shores of Lake Balkhash with South Korea has also been ditched this year because it was too expensive.
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(News report from Issue No. 310, published on Dec. 23 2016)
DEC. 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Asian Development Bank and the Kyrgyz government signed a loan agreement for the upgrade of the Soviet-era Toktogul hydropower plant, the biggest in Kyrgyzstan. The ADB will provide loans totalling $60m and a $50m grant. Toktogul produces around 40% of the country’s electricity. This is the third phase of the refurbishment at Toktogul. The ABD has already participated in the funding of the first two phases.
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(News report from Issue No. 309, published on Dec. 16 2016)
DEC. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Electricity production in Kyrgyzstan was 2.5% higher in the first 10 months of the year compared to 2015, media quoted the statistics committee as saying. This is important for Kyrgyzstan because electricity, generated by its extensive hydropower system, is its main export. It is investing in the so-called CASA-1000 project to send electricity to Pakistan via Afghanistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 309, published on Dec. 16 2016)f
NOV. 11 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Russo-Kazakh Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) said it is ready to consider supporting the modernisation of the Nurek hydropower plant, the largest in Tajikistan. In an interview with Avesta, EDB chairman Dmitri Pankin said that, if the government asked for help, the EDB would help fund reconstruction work at the dam together with the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. The Tajik government had previously said the modernisation will cost $700m.
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(News report from Issue No. 305, published on Nov. 18 2016)