The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a US$21 million grant as additional financing to expand the supply of renewable energy in Tajikistan by further modernizing the Golovnaya hydropower plant, according to the ADB Tajikistan Resident Mission (TJRM).

“The electricity from the Golovnaya hydropower plant goes to national and regional grids, benefiting Tajikistan and neighboring countries,” said ADB Director General for Central and West Asia Yevgeniy Zhukov.  “ADB’s support improves regional energy security, contributing to inclusive, sustainable economic growth and balanced regional development.”

The additional financing will replace the power generation unit 4 at the Golovnaya hydropower plant.  Unit 4, which was not part of the ADB’s original project approved in 2013, ceased operations in 2019 due to damage in its mechanical equipment.

The ADB’s original project provided a US$136 million grant to replace five of the plant’s six power generation units. It also rehabilitated switchyards at the Golovnaya hydropower plant, modernized the Vose substation, and constructed the Roudaki substation and a transmission line connecting the Roudaki and Vose substations in southern Tajikistan.

With the hydropower plant’s modernization, its installed capacity will increase from 240 megawatts in 2012 to 274 megawatts by 2026.

Tajikistan joined ADB in 1998.  For 26 years, ADB has supported a wide range of sectors from strategic road and energy infrastructure to health, education, agriculture, urban development, public sector management and finance for a total of over US$2.6 billion in assistance – including over US$2 billion in grants.

Established in 1966, the Asian Development Bank is owned by 68 members—49 from the region.

The Golovnaya Dam is an earth-fill embankment dam on the Vakhsh River just east of the city of Levakant in Khatlon province.  It serves to provide water to a system of irrigation canals and generate hydroelectric power.

The first generator was commissioned in 1962 and the last in 1963.  Between 1984 and 1989 three of the Kaplan turbines were upgraded from 35 MW to 45 MW. Two of the turbines in the 240 MW power station discharge water into a canal on the left bank of the river.  Water from this canal serves to irrigate but also supplies the 29.9 MW Perepadnaya and 15.1 MW Tsentralnaya hydropower plants located further down.  The reservoir has a design storage volume of 96,000,000 m3.