QURGHON TEPPA, December 12, Asia-Plus - A seminar formally titled “Use of Renewable Energy Resources in Tajikistan” was held in Qurghon Teppa, the capital of the Khatlon province, today.

Participants in the seminar staged by the European Union CO in Tajikistan and Tajik Academy of Sciences included representatives from Tajikistan’s research center dealing with studying untraditional power sources as well as representatives from relevant ministries and organizations of the country.  The seminar considered the possibility of use of untraditional energy sources in Khatlon’s economy.  

According to Hakim Ahmadov, Chief Academic Secretary of Tajik Academy of Sciences, told Asia-Plus that the main objective of the seminar was to raise awareness among the local population of alternate source of power.  The seminar considered examples of use of solar power and energy sources based on use of organic waste products in Tajikistan, as well as issues related to potentials and priorities of renewable energy sources, Ahmadov said.  He added that use of renewable energy resources will allow saving billions of kWh of electricity.    

Telling the seminar in Qurghon Teppa, Ahmadov noted that Khatlon and some other regions of the country have good potnetials to use autonomous energy resources.  According to him, a fair of autonomous equipment for generating electrical power will be held in the republic before April 2007.  “Four sets of this equipment will be installed in Dushanbe and six others in Qurghon Teppa,” said Ahmadov, “In Qurghon Teppa, they will be installed on the central market, as well as at kindergartens, schools and the city’s main mosque that will allow the public to familairze themsleves with these energy systems.”  

A smiliar semianr was held in Dushanbe on December 7.

The technology of obtaining usable energy  from the light of the Sun, has been used in many traditional technologies for centuries and has come into widespread use where other power supplies are absent, such as in remote locations and in space.  According to him, solar energy is currently used in a number of applications such as heat, electricity generation, etc.

Renewable energy is energy which can be replenished at the same rate it is used. Renewable energy sources contribute approximately 25% of human energy use worldwide. The prime source of renewable energy is solar radiation, i.e. sunlight.  Mankind''s traditional uses of wind, water, and solar power are widespread in developed and developing countries; but the mass production of electricity using renewable energy sources has become popular only recently, reflecting the major threats of climate change due to pollution, concerns about the exhaustion of fossil fuels,  and the environmental, social and political risks of fossil fuels and nuclear power.