The Ministries of Energy of Russia and Uzbekistan have agreed on the inclusion of Russia's "System Operator" in the unified energy system (UES) of Central Asia. This was announced by the head of the Russian Ministry of Energy, Sergey Tsivilev.
This will allow joint management of electricity flows between the countries, Tsivilev believes, reports TASS.
"The Uzbek side fully supports this. We will implement it in the near future," said the minister.
It is worth noting that Russia is one of the largest producers of electricity in the world and for many decades has sold electricity to neighboring countries, primarily to the West. However, after the start of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine, Europe stopped buying electricity from Moscow. In response, Russia revived projects to export electricity in a southern direction.
One of the promising routes for electricity supply from Russia is the Russia - Kazakhstan - Unified Energy System of Central Asia - Northern Afghanistan route.
Although no single project currently exists, various options for electricity supplies from Russia to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are being developed and even implemented.
For example, the Ministry of Energy of Kyrgyzstan agreed with Russia at the beginning of 2023 to purchase between 900 million and 1.5 billion kilowatt-hours per year. The first deliveries from Russia's "Inter RAO" began in April 2024 via Kazakhstan's power grids.
Russia is also planning to build nuclear power plants (NPP) in Central Asian countries. Earlier reports indicated that Russia and Uzbekistan had agreed to build a small-capacity NPP with units up to 55 MW.
Rosatom Corporation is expected to submit and coordinate amendments to the intergovernmental agreement between Moscow and Tashkent on cooperation in the field of nuclear energy soon.
At the same time, Rosatom plans to build small nuclear power plants in Kyrgyzstan, and a larger project is planned in Kazakhstan.
CentralasianLIGHT.org
September 11, 2024