Azernews.Az

By Trend

Uzbekistan will import 1.2 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2017, a source in the management of Uzbekenergo JSC, the entity unifying the country’s power and coal industry enterprises, told Trend.

"This year we import cheap electricity from Kyrgyzstan to provide Uzbek agriculture with water for irrigation and optimize the energy system’s operation," the source said.

The Uzbek company’s representative noted that these are the first purchases following the collapse of the unified energy system of Central Asia.

The representative noted that at present, the Central Asian countries are making efforts to restore that system.

In particular, reconstruction of two high-voltage power lines, which will become a part of unified energy system in the Central Asian region, has been completed in Uzbekistan, the representative added.

The unified energy system of Central Asia was formed in 1991. It included 83 power plants with total capacity of 25,000 megawatts in the territory of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and southern Kazakhstan.

In winter, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan accumulated water in reservoirs and received electricity and energy resources (coal and natural gas) from Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. In summer, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan sent water to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan for irrigation farming.

However, after Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan left the unified energy system of Central Asia in 2003 and 2009, respectively, the system ceased to function.

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