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Articles on Transmission Projects in Central Asia

• Battle to electrify Kandahar shows Afghan dilemma
  Feb 7, 2010 - Heidi Vogt - Associated Press
  
  About 90 factories sit vacant in the economic capital of southern Afghanistan. They could fight militants in a way no army could, employing thousands of people and giving them a reason to shun the Taliban.
  
  
• Tajikistan Reacts To Uzbek Decision To Quit Power Grid
  Nov 28, 2009 - Asia Pulse Data Source - TASHKENT
  
  The Tajik Foreign Ministry says Uzbekistan's decision to quit the Central Asian power grid is politically motivated, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports.
  
  
• Uzbekistan tells Tajikistan it will quit unified power grid
  Nov 23, 2009 - Dushanbe - BBC Monitoring
  
  Tashkent has officially warned the Tajik authorities about its withdrawal from the unified Central Asian energy system (SCAES) from 1 December 2009, the Uzbek ambassador to Tajikistan, Shoislom Shoqosimov, said at a briefing organized for local and foreign media outlets today. He also said that "decisions made by Uzbekistan are aimed at ensuring its own energy security and make it possible to secure stable functioning of its own energy system".
  
  
• Uzbekistan to withdraw from regional power grid
  Nov 9, 2009 - The Associated Press
  
  Uzbekistan is set to withdraw from the Central Asian unified power grid that links four Soviet nations in the region, a top energy official announced Thursday in a move that will prompt fears of deepening electricity shortages among neighboring countries.
  
  
• Tajikistan builds power line on Afghan border
  Jul 27, 2009 - BBC Monitoring
  
  Today the state centre for management of electric power projects held a news conference to sum up the results of the first half of the year [2009], and it was attended by director of the centre Kholmurod Qurbonov, project managers and journalists.
  
  
• New Power Line Lights Up Afghan Capital
  May 29, 2009 - Energy Central - Bruce Pannier
  
  The lights are on again in Kabul. And that’s no small change.  For years, residents of the Afghan capital endured shortages of electricity, with power sometimes rationed to only a couple of hours a day.
  
  
• Regional power trade to be facilitated
  May 09, 2009 - Asia Pulse Data Source
  
  KABUL - Leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan, currently both on a visit to Washington, have voiced their commitment to improving regional economic cooperation, including the facilitation of electricity trade between Central and South Asia.
  
  
• Power shortages get worse in Central Asia
  Feb 26, 2009 - Peter Leonard - Associated Press
  
  ALMATY - Kazakhstan announced Thursday it was pulling out of the Central Asian power grid to protect its energy supplies, a move that forced rolling blackouts and electricity rationing on Kyrgyzstan, its tiny, power-starved neighbor.
  
  
• Uzbekistan starts supplying electricity to Afghan capital
  Feb 02, 2009 - BBC Monitoring
  
  The Uzbekenergo [Uzbek energy] state joint stock company has started exporting electricity to the Afghan capital of Kabul, a source in the country's government circles has told a Regnum news agency correspondent.
  
  
• Indian Firms to Build Power Line From Tajikistan to Afghanistan
  Dec 26, 2008 - BBC Monitoring - Central Asia
  
  The Indian companies the KEC International Ltd. and the RPG Transmission Ltd. have won a tender to construct electricity transmission lines in Tajikistan, from the Sangtuda-1 hydroelectric power station, which is being constructed, to the border with Afghanistan.
  
  
• Uzbekistan starts to build power line to boost export to Afghanistan
  Dec 04, 2008 - BBC Monitoring
  
  The Uzbekenergo [Uzbek energy] state joint stock company has started the construction of a 500-kV high-voltage power transmission line Guzor-Surxon.
  
  
• Team Brings Reliable Electricity To Afghan Village
  Nov 25, 2008 - The Associated Press
  
  Members of the provincial reconstruction team in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province joined residents of Qasaba village during a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a newly installed electric transformer Nov. 22.
  
  
• ADB to help improve Tajikistan's power supply
  Nov 19, 2008 -- Asia Pulse Data Source
  
  TASHKENT - An ageing facility in Tajikistan's electricity supply network which is in danger of collapse is being rehabilitated with support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
  
  
• Kyrgyzstan seeks to import electricity from Kazakhstan
  Sep 12, 2008 - Asia Pulse Data Source
  
  Kyrgyzstan is to buy 250 million kilowatt hours of electricity from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Prime Minister Igor Chudinov said, according to AKIpress reports.
  
  
• ADB funds Azerbaijan power transmission project
  Sep. 11 - Xinhua
  
  The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Thursday said it is helping Azerbaijan upgrade its aging power transmission facilities through a 160-million-U.S.-dollar loan.
  
  
• Kyrgyzstan Starts Exporting Electricity to Kazakhstan
  Jul 15, 2008 - BBC Monitoring Central Asia
  
  The export of electricity to Kazakhstan began from 14 July this year, the press secretary of the Elektricheskiye stantsii [Electric power stations] joint stock company, Natalya Orlova, has told the [Kazakhstan Today] news agency's correspondent.
  
  
• Azeri, Iranian Ministers Make Public Plans to Create Unified Power Grid
  Jul 1, 2008 - BBC Monitoring Central Asia
  
  Azerbaijan, Turkey, Georgia, Iran and Russia are in talks to join their power grids, the Azerbaijani energy minister announced after meeting his Iranian counterpart, Ekho reports. Armenia, which has been technically at war with Azerbaijan for about 20 years over Nagornyy Karabakh, will not be allowed to join the project. The project that involves the five states will further improve electricity supplies and may open the way for the sale of electricity to Europe. Once this project is completed, the Azerbaijani exclave of Naxcivan will also join the unified system, which will help meet its acute need for electricity in winter. The following is the text of R. Orucov's report in Azerbaijani newspaper Ekho on 19 June headlined "Armenia will find itself in the centre of a power circuit but out of it" and subheaded "Otherwise, Azerbaijan will refuse to participate in the project"; subheadings have been inserted editorially:
  
  
• Turkmenistan to send power to Tajikistan
  Jun 24, 2008 - Asia Pulse Data Source
  
  Central Asian nations are working together on electricity issues. The fourth session of the Coordination Council on Power Industry of Central Asia was recently concluded.
  
  
• Tajikistan, Afghanistan postpone electricity agreement signing
  Jun 20, 2008 - BBC Monitoring
  
  The signing of an intergovernmental agreement on supplying electricity from Tajikistan to Afghanistan in 2010- 2015, which was planned for today, has not been held.
  
  
• Turkmen eastern region gets power grid
  Jun 19, 2008 - BBC Monitoring
  
  An important step has been made to establish a unified power supply grid in Lebap [eastern Turkmenistan], a region with huge mineral resources and industrial potential. Among recently constructed and commissioned facilities there are: the 220/110/35-kV Farap transformer substation and two overhead high-voltage transmission lines Farap-Samandepe and Samandepe-Yasyldepe both are fed from this substation.
  
  
• Tajikistan Begins Supplying Power to Uzbekistan, Afghanistan
  Jun 8, 2008 - BBC Monitoring Central Asia
  
  Tajikistan has begun supplying electricity to neighbouring Uzbekistan and Afghanistan. This was announced today by the Barki Tojik state energy holding company which said exports had become possible after a sharp increase in output in the country's hydropower stations, chiefly at its largest one, Nurek.
  
  
• Kyrgyzstan to help Pakistan control power shortfall
  May 1, 2008 - Asia Pulse Data Source
  
  Kyrgyzstan is keen to help Pakistan in power shortfall as country has surplus electricity of one billion kilo watt, Ambassador of Kyrgyzstan, Dr Nurlan Aitmurzaev said on Tuesday, THE Daily Times (Pakistan) reported. Kyrgyzstan has inked an agreement to export it to Central Asian and South Asian Region of Electricity Market (CASAREM) including Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
  
  
• Power to the People: Afghanistan Holds Key to Ambitious Plan for Regional Energy Development
  Mar 31, 2008 - International Herald Tribune
  
  "What we need is electricity," they say, through Wilson's Afghan translator. "To power computers. For our children. To connect to the Internet."
  
  
• Uzbekistan Resumes Power Supply to Tajikistan
  Mar 3, 2008 - BBC Monitoring Central Asia
  
  Uzbekistan has resumed power supply to Tajikistan, a source in the Barq-i Tojik [Tajik Electricity] open joint-stock holding company has told Asia-Plus.
  
  
• Uzbekistan Resumes Power Supplies to Weather-Hit Tajikistan
  Feb 12, 2008 - BBC Monitoring Central Asia
  
  Uzbekistan resumed electricity supplies to Tajikistan yesterday, a source in the Uzbek embassy in Tajikistan told Asia-Plus today. "Yesterday we exported 1m kWh to Tajikistan, and today [electricity] supplies were increased to 2m kWh," a consul of the Uzbek embassy in Tajikistan, Mirodil Abdurazzoqov, said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
  
  
• Tajik-Iranian joint venture starts to build small power plant in south
  Jan 31, 2008 - BBC Monitoring
  
  Tajikistan has started implementing one of the eight projects on construction of small hydroelectric power plants funded by the Islamic Development Bank, the head of the centre for implementing energy projects, Sanat Rahimov, has told Avesta.
  
  
• Tajikistan Begins Construction of New Power Line to Afghanistan
  Jan 15, 2008 - BBC Monitoring Central Asia
  
  After completing the construction of a 10- kV electric power transmission line [from eastern Tajikistan to the Afghan district of Fayzabad], the Pamirenergy company started the construction of a 0.4 kV electric power transmission line designed to provide electricity to Shognan district in Afghanistan's Badakhshan Province.
  
  
• Turkmenistan Begins Electricity Supplies to Tajikistan
  Dec 3 - BBC Monitoring - Central Asia
  
  he supply of Turkmen electricity to Tajikistan has eventually started, although in small amounts - 2- 2.5m kWh per day and night, the Barq-i Tojik OJSHC [open joint- stock holding company] has told Asia-Plus.
  
  
• Leading Energy Company of India to Establish Geothermal Energy in India and Nepal
  Nov 27, 2007 - Market Wire
  
  Glitnir, the Nordic corporate investment bank, and LNJ Bhilwara Group with operations in India and Nepal has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate in developing geothermal power plants in India and Nepal. This MoU has been signed during the visit of the Finance Minister of Iceland on invitation from Finance Minister of India. The finance minister of Iceland H.E. Arni Mathiesen is on an official visit with a business delegation focused on Energy development in India.
  
  
• Agreement signed in Kabul on electricity transmission project that connects Central Asia with South Asia
  Nov 19, 2007 - The World Bank Group
  
  Kabul November 19, 2007 – An agreement was signed in Kabul on November 16 to implement a US$500 million electricity connection between Central Asia and South Asia. In its first stage, the project would transfer around 1300 Megawatts of electricity from Tajikistan and Kyrgyz Republic to Pakistan and Afghanistan. Central Asia has abundant hydropower resources and seasonal energy surpluses that can provide lower cost power to Pakistan and Afghanistan.
  
  
• World Bank funds Tajik-Afghan power supply project
  Sep 12, 2007 - BBC Monitorng
  
  The World Bank (WB) has allocated 3m dollars [to Tajikistan] to draw up a feasibility study for a project to construct the Sangtuda [Tajikistan]-Sherkhan Bandar [northern Afghanistan] high-voltage power transmission line, Avesta news agency has been told at the Tajik Ministry of Energy and Industry.
  
  
• Tajik Premier Pledges Electricity Supplies to Kazakhstan
  Aug 24, 2007 - BBC Monitoring
  
  Tajikistan will be ready to export to Kazakhstan up to 2.5bn kWh of electricity per annum once the Sangtuda-1 hydroelectric power station is commissioned, Tajik Prime Minister Oqil Oqilov has said.
  
  
• Kyrgyzstan: Central Asia power grids discuss cooperation plans
  May 22, 2007 - BBC Monitoring
  
  The Kyrgyz energy system is currently operating in parallel with energy systems of Central Asia, Kazakhstan and Russia. The parallel operation of the energy systems is increasing the reliability of electricity supplies to consumers and allowing the power engineering systems to help one another in emergencies and work more economically. This has been said at a regular session of the coordination commission of the Electricity Council of Central Asia in Bishkek.
  
  
• India to depend on renewable sources to meet energy needs
  Apr 9, 2007 - Asia Pulse Data Source
  
  New Delhi, India will be dependent on renewable sources such as solar, hydro and biofuels to meet 50 per cent of its energy requirements by 2050.
  
  
• Tajiks, Afghan, Iran agree on feasibility study of joint power line
  Mar 20, 2007 - BBC Monitoring
  
  Dushanbe: Tajik, Afghan and Iranian power engineers have signed a treaty on the feasibility study of a project for the construction of a high-voltage power transmission line from Tajikistan to Iran through Afghan territory, and have chosen a prime contractor, Avesta has been told by the Tajik Energy and Industry Ministry.
  
  
• Positive response from India to import of electricity from Bhutan and Nepal: Power Advisor
  Mar 11, 2007 - Asia Pulse Data Source
  
  Bangladesh has received a positive response from India regarding the plan for importing electricity from Bhutan and Nepal, as a measure for tackling the prevailing crisis, Power and Energy Advisor Tapan Chowdhury said Sunday.
  
  
• India mulls power transmission links with Sri Lanka, B'desh
  Mar 8, 2007 - Asia in Focus
  
  The government on Wednesday said it was looking into the possibility of establishing power transmission links with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, while asking other South Asian countries to enhance regional energy cooperation. "We would suggest the approach of building country-to-country grid interconnections as building blocks for making feasible flow of electricity across the region," Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said at the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Energy Ministers' meeting here.
  
  
• Power minister moots SAARC energy grid
  Mar 7, 2007 - McClatchy-Tribune Business News Formerly Knight Ridder - Tribune Business News
  
  NEW DELHI -- Power minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Monday made an effort to energise economic cooperation among SAARC countries by proposing to bind them together through a network of transnational energy lifelines -- from oil and gas pipelines to interconnecting power transmission lines.
  
  
• Azerbaijan considers Russian energy grid's cooperation offer
  Jan 26, 2007 - BBC Monitoring
  
  The Azerbaijani government is considering seriously RAO UES [Unified Energy System of Russia] proposals concerning cooperation in the electric power industry.
  
  
• ADB to Study Power Trade Potential to Afghanistan and Pakistan
  Jan 22, 2007 - Xinhua
  
  ADB is providing a US$3 million technical assistance grant to study the potential for regional electricity trading that would help optimize utilization of power resources in both Central and South Asia.
  
  
• Nepal-India sign deal to construct power transmission line
  Jan 6, 2007 - Asia Pulse Data Source
  
  Kathmandu, Jan 6: Nepal and India have agreed to construct a 220 KV trans-border transmission line to facilitate exchange of power between the two countries.
  
  
• India plans high-capacity power line
  Nov 28, 2006 - UPI
  
  India is moving forward with plans to build a 1,000-mile-long power transmission line connecting
  its northeast with the rest of the country.
  
  
• Afghanistan to import 300 MW power from Uzbekistan
  Nov 14, 2006 - Xinhua
  
  The war-ravaged and energy-thirsty Afghanistan has inked agreement with Uzbekistan to import 300 MW electricity from its central Asian neighbor, Presidential spokesman Mohammad Karim Rahimi said in Kabul on Tuesday.
  
  
• Kazakhstan: World Bank Supports Electricity Transmission To South
  Oct 27, 2006 - Press Release - World Bank
  
  ASTANA - The World Bank today approved a US$ 100 million loan for Phase II of the Kazakhstan North-South Electricity Transmission Project. The project will help ensure access to a reliable, cost-effective and high-quality supply of electricity for business enterprises and households in southern Kazakhstan. The project also supports regional integration by optimizing the use of energy resources through the international electricity trade. It will help to promote national and regional competition by allowing low cost producers in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to compete on the broader regional market.
  
  
• India and Nepal try to break the ice on joint hydropower
  Sep 8, 2006 - Asia Pulse Data Source
  
  There is a 20 percent shortfall in power supply on the north Indian grid this summer. Parts of New Delhi
  are suffering six-hour power cuts daily. Nepal sits on anywhere between 45,000-80,000 M. There is
  demand, and there is supply, yet Nepal and India can't agree on sharing power and water for mutual benefit.
  
  
• India Eyes Power Generation Projects in Nepal
  Aug 26, 2006 - The Hindu
  
  Facing acute shortage of electricity, India is talking to neighbouring Nepal for tapping the potential it has
  there. "We are talking to Nepal. There lies a potential of about 60,000 MW electricity generation," Power
  Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said in Lok Sabha during the Question Hour.
  
  
• Kabul-Jalalabad power line more suitable
  May 2006
  
  Islamabad - Minister for Water and Power Liaquat Ali Jatoi on Tuesday said Central Asian Republic States (CARs) Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan expressed their willingness on installation of transmission line from Kabul to Pakistan.Addressing a press conference here after the conclusion of two-day Central Asian-South Asian Electricity Trade conference, the minister said that Afghanistan in this regard agreed to provide transit for power trade.
  
  
• Tajik, Chinese companies sign deals to build two power lines in Tajikistan
  Apr 20, 2006 - The Associated Press
  
  DUSHANBE, Tajikistan - Tajikistan's national electric power company signed deals with a Chinese company to build two power transmission lines in this ex-Soviet republic, an official said Thursday.
  
  
• Barqi Tojik and China Theban Electric sign contracts to $300mln
  April 19, 2006 - I. Kurbanov - Avesta - Commerical News Update
  
  Barqi Tojik Joint Stock Holding Company and Chinese China Theban Electric Apparatus Stock company
  (CTEAS) signed two contracts on the construction of high voltage power lines in Tajikistan. Both contracts
  were signed Wednesday in Dushanbe, a spokesman for Barqi Tojik Nozir Edgori told Avesta. We are
  speaking of the construction of a 500 kWt South-North and a 220 kWt Lolazor-Khatlon power lines. Total
  cost of these projects is estimated at around $340mln.
  
  
• INDIA'S ELECTRICITY TRANSMISSION & DISTRIBUTION LOSSES AT 31 PCT
  Feb 23, 2006 - Asia Pulse
  
  NEW DELHI - India's electricity transmission and distribution losses at 31.05 per cent during 2004-05 are the highest among neighbouring countries in South Asia, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday. China has the least T&D losses at a mere 7 per cent, followed by...
  
  
• Kazakhstan: World Bank Supports Electricity Transmission To South
  Oct 27, 2005 - World Bank
  
  ASTANA, The World Bank today approved a US$ 100 million loan for Phase II of the Kazakhstan North-South
  Electricity Transmission Project. The project will help ensure access to a reliable, cost-effective and
  high-quality supply of electricity for business enterprises and households in southern Kazakhstan. The
  project also supports regional integration by optimizing the use of energy resources through the
  international electricity trade. It will help to promote national and regional competition by allowing low cost
  producers in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to compete on the broader regional market.
  
  
• India Invites Chinese Investment In Power Sector
  Aug 29, 2005 - Asia Pulse
  
  BEIJING - India and China have initiated their first steps to cooperate in the electricity sector and New Delhi has invited Chinese investments in the power sector, including transmission and high-end generation. Since India and China are two big countries with fastest developing economies, both...
  
  
• Bangladesh, Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Development
  Jun 25, 2002 - World Bank
  
  The Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Development project aims to support Bangladesh’s vision
  of attaining a higher level of social development and accelerating economic growth by increasing access
  to electricity in rural areas. The project will support the Government’s efforts to expand electricity coverage
  through both grid and off-grid options.
  
  
• India signs power purchase agreement with Bhutan
  
  Taking a crucial step towards energy security, India on Friday signed an agreement with Bhutan for
  purchase of power from its 1020 MW Tala hydro-electric project.
  

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