Modern man cannot imagine life without electric energy. But electricity is an opportunity not only to provide life, but also the development of the state economy. Even in the post-war period, the first thing the Soviet authorities started rebuilding of the country was the construction and restoration of hydropower plants.
Tajikistan is a state located in Central Asia. Previously, the country was part of the USSR. It does not have its own access to the sea, and the territory is located in the foothills of the Pamirs. The state is rich in minerals, but since 93% of the entire territory is in the mountains, the extraction of resources is difficult. Infrastructure is poorly developed, and the country's borders are far from Eurasian transport flows. But this is not the main problem of the republic.
Electricity problems
Despite the fact that it is in Tajikistan that about 60% of all water flows of Central Asia are formed, in winter the country practically plunges into darkness in the literal sense. There are no developed large hydrocarbon deposits in the republic, hence the lack of electric energy. Local authorities impose a limit on energy consumption for the population and enterprises, especially for small businesses.
According to independent experts, the potential stock of hydroelectric resources in the country is currently at 300 TW / h. For example, in Turkmenistan this indicator is only 20 TW / h.
Protracted construction
Hydroelectric power station (Rogun, Tajikistan) - the largest long-term construction on a global scale. Work on the construction of the station began in 1976. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, work in Rogun stopped.
1993 was unsuccessful for construction. In this place there was a strong flood, the dam of the dam was blurred. As a result, all the erected buildings at that time were flooded.
In 2004, the second life of the hydroelectric power station (Rogun) began. But now (as of 2017) there are no cardinal changes, despite the loud assurances of local authorities about the imminent launch of the station.
General information
Rogun HPP is located on the Vakhsh River, in the place of the upper stage of the Vakhshksky cascade.
According to the project, the station should be of a dam type, 335 meters high. If construction is ever completed, the hydropower plant will be the highest in the world.
Operational and construction tunnels, station buildings located underground and the transformer room will be commissioned (except for the dam). Planned capacity - 3600 MW. On average, the plant should generate 17.1 billion kW / h.
The dam should form a huge Rogun reservoir. It is also designed to provide irrigation functions, that is, it will allow irrigating another 300 thousand hectares.
Expert Opinions
Even Soviet designers argued that the construction of a hydroelectric station in Rogun would not only solve the problems of providing electricity to the whole country, but also eliminate water shortages in the entire Amu Darya basin. And the solution to this problem will allow irrigating about 4.6 hectares of land.
There is evidence that at the end of 1990 the station was almost half ready. The construction was carried out with the support of the Uzbek SSR, which was also interested in the hydroelectric power station, so it had the opportunity to develop an additional about 240 thousand hectares of agricultural land.
After the collapse of the USSR, the construction of the Rogun hydroelectric station began to cause concern from the republics, which are located in the lower reaches. An international comprehensive examination of the project was carried out. The World Bank held consultations on the terms of reference for the project (September 2008-September 2009). Despite public statements about disagreement with the construction by Uzbekistan, the commission came to the following conclusions:
- further construction and operation of hydroelectric power plants are possible, but only on condition that design changes aimed at mitigating the environmental impact are adopted;
- the dam in the village of Rogun is the best solution that will require the least cost and will provide the country with electric energy;
- it will be necessary to resettle a number of settlements located in the lower reaches.
Thus, the Rogun hydroelectric station gives Tajikistan more advantages and downstream countries than the negative consequences. Two other factors should also be considered. Firstly, the conclusions of the international examination completely coincided with the opinion of the Soviet designers. Secondly, no political background in the conclusions of the experts of those years is worth even looking for.
In addition to electric energy for the entire population of the country, construction will give an impetus to the development of industry in the region. And these are new jobs, an increase in interregional and interstate trade.
According to recent estimates, completion of the construction will cost the country $ 2.2 billion.
What is happening now
Who is building a hydroelectric power station (Rogun) now? Today, an Italian contractor, Salini Impregilo, is already doing this. The company’s administration assures that the first unit (with a capacity of 600 megawatts) will be launched in 2018. They promise to launch the second in 2019, six in total are provided for the project. A full launch of the hydropower plant is planned for 13 years.
In addition, the construction of hydropower plants in 2017 is carried out in a complete information vacuum. The head of state, Emomali Rahmon, is quite well aware of the progress of the “construction of the century, ” because they previously stated that the first launch will be by the beginning of 2017, but severe floods prevented this.
