The Kyrgyz Republic's Power Sector Rehabilitation Project Receives $55 Million in ADB Funding
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved a $40 million grant and a $15 million loan to finance the Kyrgyz Republic’s $62 million Power Sector Rehabilitation Project. The government and electric power plants will provide $7 million. The Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program will coordinate the project funding.
Rehabilitating the 40-year-old, 1,200-megawatt Toktogul hydroelectric power plant (HEPP), which produces 50% of the country’s electricity, is the project’s priority. A rehabilitated HEPP will help improve electricity supply, benefiting almost everyone connected to the electricity grid, and stabilize the Central Asian power system, with average annual exports of 2,100 gigawatt-hours to the system. Secondary electrical and mechanical equipment will be replaced with new 500-kilovolt cables, an excitation system, a governor system, generator circuit breakers, and spare stator windings.
The project will also establish an electricity settlement center to distribute sector revenues, assess the safety of dams on the Naryn cascade and identify remedial measures, and raise awareness to gain support for sector reforms.
The country’s total installed generation capacity is 3,863 megawatts: HEPPs generate 81% and thermal combined heat and power plants 19%. Since 2002, an average of 92% of total electricity output has been produced by the Toktogul HEPP and other HEPPs in the downstream Naryn cascade.
The Toktogul HEPP will handle the rehabilitation project. The Ministry of Energy will be responsible for the other project components.
The government’s draft energy strategy identifies $4 billion of power investments for 2012–2017.The amount is consistent with ADB estimates of $6 billion in investments required for 2012–2022, including rehabilitation and construction of thermal and hydropower plants, and transmission and distribution assets.
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