Central Asian States to Create Joint Model of Power Transmission

Excerpt from report by Uzbek privately-owned newspaper Biznes- Vestnik Vostoka on 2 October

On 26 September 2008, representatives of energy companies from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan discussed creating a regional electricity transmission model, which was developed with help from the US agency for international development (USAID).

The meeting took place in Astana and was organized by the USAID Central Asia Regional Transmission Planning Project (CARTRANS), which is being implemented by the United States Energy Association.

The creation of a new computer model of the Central Asian high- voltage network will enable the countries in the region to more efficiently plan and manage the energy flow between the countries involved.

The Central Asian system of transmitting electricity comprises the national energy systems of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, as well as the south of Kazakhstan. This system was built during the Soviet times and presupposes that the countries depend on each other and requires joint planning of the energy flow.

The joint model of the regional energy network will provide information about electricity transmission capacities at each section of the system and will draw up a more accurate and efficient plan of electricity production. This, in its turn, will enable the four countries to optimize the volume of transmitted energy and decrease electricity cuts.

As the first step in creating the new system, the USAID provided special software and helped the national energy companies from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to develop their national models of the electricity transmission system. This work was coordinated by the Energiya [energy] regional coordination and control centre, as well as by Afghan and Turkmen energy companies. The national models will merge into a regional model in future and this will make it possible to draw up a plan of Central Asia’s electricity needs until 2013. In Astana, the countries involved also discussed mechanisms for communicating and exchanging information to ensure the model’s effective work.

[Passage omitted: representatives from Afghanistan also attended the meeting]

Originally published by Biznes-Vestnik Vostoka, Tashkent, in Russian 2 Oct 08, p 6.

(c) 2008 BBC Monitoring Central Asia. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.