DUSHANBE, October 6, 2011, Asia-Plus  -- According to Barqi Tojik power holding (the state-owned utility responsible for generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity in Tajikistan), Tajikistan is expected to begin to supply electrical power to Afghanistan via the 220 kV power transmission line “Sangtuda-Pul-i Khumri” this year.

The source says President Emomali Rahmon and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai are expected to attend a ceremony of introducing the 220 kV power transmission line “Sangtuda-Pul-i Khumri” into operation that is scheduled for October 8.  According to him, the power transmission line is ready for operation.

“The substation in Pul-i Khumri is also ready for operation, while works in Kunduz will be completed by the end of the year,” said the source, “However, this will not impede the power supply operation.”

It is supposed that electricity generated by the Sangtuda-2 hydroelectric power plant (HPP) will be supplied to Afghanistan.

“The Sangtuda-2 HPP offers its electrical power at 2.5 cents per one kWh of electricity, while current price of one kWh of electricity in Tajikistan is not more than 1.8 cents,” said the source, “Therefore, it was decided to use for export electricity, generated by the Sungtuda-2 HPP, at the rate of 3.1-3.5 cents per one kWh.”

“We are doing this in order not to lose the Afghan market.  Upon implementation of the CASA-1000 project, Afghanistan will receive Tajik electricity all the year round,” the source added.

According to Barqi Tojik, Tajikistan now supplies electricity to Afghanistan only during summer season and in small volumes (not more than 15 megawatt-hour of electricity per day via the 110 kilovolt power transmission line).

A total cost the Tajikistan-Afghanistan 220 kV interconnection project that was launched in 2009 is 56.5 million U.S. dollars and it is financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund, and the governments of Tajikistan and Afghanistan.

On the territory of Tajikistan, the line starts in the Sanguda-1 hydroelectric plant and ends on the Tajik-Afghan border.  The 220 kV Tajikistan-Afghanistan power transmission line is 278 kilometers long, and 116 kilometers of it lies on Tajik territory and 162 kilometers on Afghan territory.

Over the first eight months of this year, Tajikistan has reportedly exported more than 92 million kWh of electrical power for more than US$2.1 million, primarily to Afghanistan.  Compared to the same period last year electricity exports have reportedly decreased by 16.8 percent.