Sangtuda hydroelectric station 1 launched in Tajikistan

t('articles.tweet')

* denotes required field.

• Your name *
• Email to *
• Comments *
• CAPTCHA *

Reset

TAJIKISTAN — A July 31 ceremony marked the opening of Sangtuda hydroelectric station 1 on the Vakhsh River in south Tajikistan. Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev opened the important power generation facility, together pressing a symbolic button to mark the end of the 20 years since its construction began.

Sangtuda hydroelectric station 1 will generate about 12 percent of the country’s electricity. Construction on it began at the end of the 1980s; before the Soviet Union collapsed, 20 percent of the work was done. With the onset of the Tajik civil war in 1992, work stopped. It resumed only in 2004, when Russia and Tajikistan signed an agreement to continue construction.

Joint Stock Company Sangtuda hydroelectric station 1 was formed as the project’s general contractor, financed by Russia and employing Russian construction companies. Under the agreement, Tajikistan will own 25 percent of the company, while Russia’s Inter RAO UES will own the rest.

The main construction work was completed last year, and the station’s first three hydro turbine units were also launched then. The total cost of the station is more than US$700 million, the largest Tajik-Russian joint project in recent years.

Station 1 General Director Rakhmetulla Alzhanov told journalists that its projected output capacity of 670 MW will be reached “two months after the reservoir is filled.” According to Alzhanov, Sangtuda hydroelectric station 2, which was built by Iranian specialists, will be launched during the next two years. Once it becomes operational, Tajikistan’s electrical supply problems will be completely resolved. “Electricity will be supplied 24 hours a day, even during winter frosts,” he said.

It will also supply more than twice as much as it does today. The parties agreed to gradually raise the price from $0.03 per kWh, which should allow Russia to recoup its investment in the project in roughly 10 years.

Tajikistan is not eager to lose control over its energy sector. As Tajik Foreign Minister Khamrokhon Zarifi said recently, Dushanbe is ready to involve Russian companies in the Rogun hydroelectric station project and other important hydroelectric facilities, “but only as past of an international consortium and without handing over a controlling stake.”

[Khovar.tj, Kommersant.ru, AsiaPlus.tj, Ferghana.ru]