Bishkek, Feb. 2, 2022. / Kabar /. The hydropower potential of Kyrgyzstan is one of the highest in Central Asia. However, every year a country with a high hydropower potential experiences a crisis, which worsens in winter. The past and current dry years have already aggravated the situation in the country's energy sector. Experts of the Pikir discussion club discussed the causes of the country's permanent energy crisis and current ways out at the round table "Energy security of Kyrgyzstan: ways out of the permanent crisis".
The event was attended by experts from Kyrgyzstan and Russia, including reputable energy experts, political scientists, security experts, journalists, as well as students of the International University of Kyrgyzstan and the Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University.
Speaking at the meeting former Minister of Industry, Energy and Fuel Resources of Kyrgyzstan Ilyas Davydov said that until 1994 the Central Asian energy system worked in parallel and was controlled from Tashkent. And the standards and regulations went down after agreement with all the leaders. “In those years, some regions of Kyrgyzstan received electricity from Tajikistan, others from Uzbekistan, Talas oblast was fully connected to Kazakhstan. At that time, 10-12 billion kWh of generating capacities were commissioned. However, after the collapse of the USSR, the energy system began to “swag”,” he said.
Davydov recalled that since 1994, Kyrgyzstan has been investing in transferring supplies to its systems. The first was the task of transferring Talas oblast, not to depend on the energy systems of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. “In terms of the network economy, we did everything we could. One of the important moments was the construction of the Datka-Kemin transmission line. I would like to emphasize that our republic is mountainous: the line from Toktogul to Bishkek passes four mountain passes at an altitude of 3300 meters. This is the most difficult track in the entire world,” the expert said.
As for the unified energy ring of Central Asia, Davydov noted that the agreement on the parallel operation of energy systems is a boon for the participating countries. “The unified energy ring allows countries not only to balance the operation of the energy system, but also to earn on flows. By covering peak loads in Uzbekistan, we receive up to USD 20 million,” the ex-minister said.
In turn, Associate Professor of the International University of Kyrgyzstan Alina Moldokeeva believes that the Central Asia is a region with a rapidly growing population, where, according to UN data, in 2000-2020 the increase was 20 million people. “The forecast for the period up to 2050, looks no less dynamic and is at the level of more than 100 million people, which creates an additional need to create generating capacities,” she said.
“In this regional market, the hydro potential of Kyrgyzstan is simply huge, the neighboring lowland republics with growing economies do not have such natural opportunities. Kyrgyzstan has significant reserves of hydro resources and ranks third in the CIS after Russia and Tajikistan in terms of these indicators. These are 268 rivers, 97 large canals and 18 reservoirs, the potential of which is about 143 billion kWh of annual electricity generation. The hydropower potential of all small rivers and watercourses is about 5-8 billion kWh per year, while the annual electricity generation averages only about 14 billion kWh,” Moldokeeva said.
Speaking about why this potential cannot be realized, she pointed out that since 2019, there has been a low-water cycle in the Naryn-Syrdarya river basin, which has led to insufficient water collection in the Toktogul reservoir, which holds 19 billion cubic meters of water.
“By February 1, 2022, the volume of water in Toktogul has decreased to 9 billion cubic meters. For comparison, in 2021 it was 11.2 billion cubic meters, in 2020 it was 14.1 billion cubic meters. To save water in the Toktogul reservoir, the country's authorities in 2021, through exchange and direct purchases, imported more than 2 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan,” the expert said.
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