BISHKEK (TCA) — The government of Kyrgyzstan and Czech companies are preparing an agreement for construction of small hydro power plants (HPPs) in Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyz Prime Minister Temir Sariyev said on March 16 during the meeting with a parliamentary delegation of the Czech Republic headed by the Speaker of the Czech Parliament Jan Hamacek.
The projects are estimated to cost $190 million, the Kyrgyz governmental press service said.
During the meeting the sides discussed expanding bilateral cooperation in trade, economic, energy, and humanitarian spheres.
The Kyrgyz side raised the issue of opening an air flight Prague-Bishkek-Seoul and cooperation in tourism.
Prime Minister Sariyev expressed Kyrgyzstan’s interest in attracting investments in the country’s small hydro power sector and said his government is ready to create favorable conditions for doing business in this sphere.
Sariyev said at the government meeting last week that small hydro power plants are among the most cost-effective and ecologically safe electricity generation sources and Kyrgyzstan should make a breakthrough in this sector.
“In comparison with large HPPs, investment projects of small HPPs have a number of important advantages, including a short period of preparation and construction,” Sariyev said. “Advantages of small HPPs also include lower production cost of electricity and longer operation periods of power plants.”
According to Almaz Sazbakov, director of Kyrgyzstan’s Investment Promotion Agency, currently there are 12 small hydropower plants operating in Kyrgyzstan with a total capacity of 42 MW and annual generation of 140.5 million kilowatt-hours.
“The country’s potential allows building some 87 small HPPs with a total capacity of 180 MW,” Sazbakov said at the government meeting. “We have received proposals from foreign investors to build six small HPPs with a total capacity of 81 MW and a total cost of $65 million. Ten other small hydro power projects totaling $107 million are currently being considered by investors.”
Kyrgyzstan now uses only 10% of its hydro power resources (large hydropower plants) and only 3% of the hydro power potential of the country’s small rivers.
