DUSHANBE, January 18, 2013, Asia-Plus – Five year have passed since the first unit of the Sangtuda-1 (670 MW) hydroelectric power plant (HPP) was introduced into operation.

According to open joint-stock company (OJSC) Sangtudinskaya GES-1, which operates the Sangtuda-1 HPP, the plant has generated more than 8.6 billion kWh of electricity since January 20, 2008, when its first unit was introduced into operation.

We will recall that Tajik and Russian presidents officially unveiled the fourth and last unit of the Sangtuda-1 HPP on July 31, 2009.

The Sangtudinskaya GES-1 CEO Sergey Kobtsev notes that the Sangtuda-1 HPP now accounts for more than 15 percent of a total electricity production in Tajikistan.  

“Besides, introduction of the Snagtuda-1 HPP into operation has allowed reducing Tajikistan’s seasonal power shortages by 38 percent,” Kobtsev stressed.     

The construction of the Sangtuda-1 hydropower plant located some 110 kilometers southeast of Dushanbe began in the late 1980s.  By the early 1990s, only 20% of the construction work had been completed, and further construction was suspended due to a civil war that broke out in Tajikistan in the early 1990s.  The talks between Russia and Tajikistan on completing the construction of the Sangtuda-1 HPP began in 2003 and in 2004 the parties signed an inter-governmental agreement.

Russian-Tajik OJSC Sangtudinskaya GES-1 was established to complete the construction of the Santuda-1 power plant.  Russia’s Inter RAO YeES and the Ministry of Energy and Industries of Tajikistan signed an agreement on the establishment of the company in Dushanbe on February 16, 2005.  

Russia owns 75% percent of the shares minus one share and Tajikistan assumes the 25% ownership interest plus one share in Sangtudinskaya GES-1.