Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb.14
By Nigar Guliyeva - Trend:
Tajikistan can begin power supply to Uzbekistan as early as the first half of this year, Tajik media reported.
A source in the Tajik government told local media that Dushanbe and Tashkent are discussing the terms of supply. Reportedly, the total volume of exports should be at least 1.5 billion kilowatt hours a year.
The parties will make a final decision during the state visit of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev scheduled for early March.
Earlier, Energy and Water Resources Minister of Tajikistan Usmonali Usmonzoda said that the country is ready to begin supplying electricity to Uzbekistan in summer 2018.
Usmonzoda said that Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are determined to restore the United Power System of Central Asia. However, for this, it is necessary to restore 60 km of power lines from the Uzbek side, as well as implement a project on relay protection and automation.
The minister further added that in 2017, Tajikistan produced over 18 billion kilowatt hours of electricity.
Presently, Uzbekistan imports electricity from Kyrgyzstan. Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan have concluded an agreement on the export of electricity from December 2017 to March 2018 in the amount of 550 million kilowatt-hours. The cost of one kilowatt-hour under the contract is 2.4 cents.
In Uzbekistan, more than 60.09 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity were generated in 2017, which is 3 percent more than in 2016.
