Kyrgyzstan in power supply talks with Russia, regional countries

BISHKEK, Oct 21 -- Kyrgyzstan is holding talks on the supply of electricity with Russia and a number of countries in the region, reported Sputnik, quoting Deputy Prime Minister Aziz Aaliyev.

On Wednesday, the republic's lawmakers heard information about the work of the cabinet to prepare the sectors of the economy and the population for the fall-winter period of 2021-2022. Speaking to lawmakers, Aaliyev said that due to low water on October 1, the volume of water in the reservoir supplying the country's largest Toktogul hydroelectric power station is 12.3 billion cubic metres, which is 2.9 billion cubic metres less than last year.

"This creates certain risks for the republic's power grid, since we use about 7-8 billion cubic metres of water to generate electricity in the fall-winter period, and the water level should not fall below the 'dead level' after the heating period," the deputy prime minister said.

He said that in order to prevent a shortage of electricity, Bishkek has already agreed with Ashgabat on the supply of 500 million kilowatt-hours. Overall, for the fall-winter period, it is necessary to import about 2 billion kilowatt-hours of electric power.

"In order to preserve the energy balance, the government is conducting talks with Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan on the supply of electricity," Aaliyev said.

-- BERNAMA