According to Danil Ibraev, for the market to work, countries need to create a common operator for electricity exchange trading for the coming day. Such a mechanism, as the head of the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of the Kyrgyz Republic believes, will not only help to solve a number of problems facing the republic, but will also be extremely useful for the development of business spirit.
Currently, the Russian side is trying to help reduce Kyrgyzstan’s energy deficit using other mechanisms. Since the spring of this year, the Russian Federation has been supplying electricity to the local market in transit through Kazakhstan and financing the creation of new power plants of various types.
– We have signed an agreement with Russia to import about 500 million kilowatt hours this year and next year – for the first quarter – 314 million kilowatt hours, – Taalaibek Baigaziev, chairman of the board of the National Energy Holding of the Kyrgyz Republic, said a little earlier. – If there is an increase in consumption, we will start negotiating an increase in supply.
According to estimates of the National Statistical Committee of the Kyrgyz Republic, in the first weeks after the conclusion of the agreement with Russia, Kyrgyzstan received about 68 million kilowatt hours from the Russian Federation. The cost of this volume of energy amounted to just over 138.5 million soms. In other words, the price of one kilowatt hour for Kyrgyzstan reached two soms, which is significantly lower than the cost of other suppliers.
Along with deliveries, the Russian side is investing in the construction of new power plants. One of them, we recall, is under construction on the Issyk-Kul coast. Its capacity will be around 300 megawatts.
- This plant is being built alongside us with Russian investors, – underlines the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Energy Holding of the Kyrgyz Republic Taalaibek Baigaziev. – The facility is located near the village of Toru-Aigyr in the Issyk-Kul region.
In addition, several small hydropower plants will be built in the country with Russian participation. One of them is the Leilek hydroelectric power station in the Batken region. Its capacity will be about six megawatts, which will generate about 26.3 million kilowatt hours per year. The new hydropower plant will be able to continuously supply energy to the most remote region of Kyrgyzstan.
The new HPP is expected to be commissioned in 2024. The investor in the Leilek project is the Kyrgyz-Russian Development Fund. He granted a subsidized loan of $5.6 million for the construction of the station. Rosatom subsidiary Rosatom Central Asia is the designer and contractor.
An equally interesting and promising area of ​​cooperation between Russia and Kyrgyzstan is the development of nuclear energy in the Tien Shan. In the coming years, the republic plans to build a small nuclear power plant, made using new technologies. Its power, according to the first estimates, will be 55 megawatts with the prospect of increasing to 300!
“Power plants operating in Kyrgyzstan currently produce only about 14.5 billion kilowatt hours, and a few years ago it was more than enough, since consumption in the republic was about 12 billion kilowatt hours,” explains Taalaibek Baigaziev. – However, in recent years, consumption in Kyrgyzstan has increased and continues to grow. Last year, it already amounted to 16 billion kilowatt hours. By the end of 2023, as we expect, it will reach 17 billion kilowatt hours.
At present, Kyrgyzstan is obliged to cover the lack of capacity by imports. Moreover, the purchase of energy is carried out not only in Russia. The list of sellers includes Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan (RK). The latter, in the first four months of 2023, took a leading position in the energy supply of Kyrgyzstan. More than 576.7 million kilowatt hours came from the Republic of Kazakhstan to the Tien Shan. The cost of a kilowatt hour from Kazakhstan was estimated for the Kyrgyz Republic at 2.6 soms.
Turkmenistan ranks second in terms of supply. It sold 566.3 million kilowatt hours in Kyrgyzstan at a price of 2.62 soms per kWh.
Uzbekistan became the third largest energy supplier in the first months of 2023, but out of necessity. Due to abnormally cold weather, in January it cut off electricity from Turkmenistan, which was in transit to Kyrgyzstan. Uzbekistan repaid the volume withdrawn for its own needs in March, exporting more than 145.6 million kilowatt hours to Kyrgyzstan in a month.
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