Tajikistan to Complete Rogun Hydropower Station

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Tajikistan, which borders China and Afghanistan, began construction on the Rogun Hydropower Station in 1976. Construction on the power plant and a planned expansion were semi-abandoned, and Rogun was never completed because of economic problems brought about by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Tajik civil war. Many smaller hydroelectric plants were successfully implemented through Russian investment, and only recently has Tajikistan revisited the possibility of continuing construction on Rogun. Three years ago, led by President Emomali Rakhmon, Tajikistan began planning to rebuild its economy through clean, hydroelectric energy.

Tajikistan has the potential to produce massive amounts of energy through the more than 2,500 rivers in the country. The government hopes that selling excess energy will bolster Tajikistan's economy, which is plagued by a lack of petroleum reserves. Also driving the revival of the Rogun construction is the United States' call for neighboring nations to aid in the stabilization of Afghanistan. Through financing aid from the World Bank (Washington, D.C.), the Tajikistan Ministry of Energy (Dushanbe, Tajikistan) has been able to conduct feasibility studies for Phase I of Rogun.

Phase I will involve the completion of the Rogun Hydropower Station, which is about 90 kilometers east of Dushanbe on the Vakhsh River, by constructing two generating units. Turboatom (Kharkov, Ukraine) will provide the project with two hydroelectric turbines that will generate a combined 700 megawatts (MW), but there is no news as to whether Turboatom will supply Phase II.

Tajikistan plans to begin preliminary construction by the end of the year. However, major construction is not scheduled to kickoff until the third quarter of 2012. Phase I, valued at an estimated $700 million, is expected to wrap up in early 2014, and construction on Phase II is expected to follow. When fully completed, the Rogun Hydropower Station is anticipated to generate more than 3,000 MW for Tajikistan and surrounding countries, and help complete the cascade river system on the Vakhsh River.

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