Uzbekistan starts construction of 18 MW hydropower station

Uzbekistan, Tashkent, Jan.11 / Trend D.Azizov / Construction of the Kamchik hydropower station with a capacity of 18 MW has begun in the Tashkent province of Uzbekistan on the Ohangaron River, a source at the Uzbekenergo state joint stock company told Trend on Wednesday. The source said the government had recently approved a feasibility study of a hydropower station worth $45.5 million. According to the results, the development will be built by self-financing Uzvodenergo using natural watercourses. Uzbekistan has a programme of developing small hydro energy units and will start construction of seven small and medium hydropower stations with a total capacity of 937.7 MW. The total initial cost of their construction is estimated at $848.8 million. Uzbekenergo specialists estimate the volume of the average long-term generation at the above mentioned hydropower stations are over 2.5 billion kilowatt-hours, which is comparable to a substitution of approximately 866 million cubic metres of natural gas annually. Under the modernisation of Uzbekistan's energy sector from 2011-2015, $5.425 billion dollars are planned to be allocated to carry out 44 investment projects. Currently in Uzbekistan's energy system, 45 power stations with a total capacity of 12,400 MW operate including 16 Uzbekenergo power stations with a total capacity of 12, 004 MW. The remaining part of the energy is generated by autonomous thermal power stations of industrial companies and small hydro power stations which are part of the ministry of agriculture and water industry. Uzbekistan generates about 50 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually and the share of hydro energy in total generation is about 10 per cent. According to official statistics, generation of electricity in the republic increased by 2.9 per cent in January-September 2011 compared to 39.585 billion kilowatt-hours in January-September 2010. Do you have any feedback? Contact our journalist at agency@trend.az