Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Sept. 28
By Huseyn Hasanov– Trend:
Turkmenistan is increasing the volumes of investment in the energy industry, which demonstrates the ability to increase the export of electricity in demand in global markets, the Turkmen state news agency said in a message.
“Turkmenistan is one of the richest countries in terms of energy reserves, and production of electricity is traditionally considered in the world to be one of the most profitable activities,” the message said.
In recent years, the energy sector’s infrastructure has been replenished by a number of gas turbine power plants.
They include the 504.4-megawatt power plant in Akhal region of Turkmenistan commissioned in 2015, which is one of the links in the complex project to improve the electricity supply of the Turkmen capital and completely renovate the corresponding system.
In addition, five new power units with total capacity of 393.9 megawatts were commissioned in the Ak Bugday district at the Akhal power plant. Thus, its capacity increased from 254,200 megawatts to 648,100 megawatts.
The project which was launched on the territory of Turkmenistan’s Mary province and which provides for construction of the country's first combined cycle power plant with capacity of 1,574 megawatts also aims to further develop the energy infrastructure and expand export opportunities.
It was earlier reported that in 2015, electricity generation in Turkmenistan was 22.5 billion kilowatt hours, while its export totaled 3.2 billion kilowatt hours.
Currently, work is underway to expand the electricity export to Afghanistan and Iran.
Moreover, the country studies the possibility of transporting electricity to Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan and countries in the Caucasus.
Turkmenistan plans to increase the electricity production to 27.4 billion kilowatt hours by 2020 and to 35.5 billion kilowatt hours by 2030.