BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 29. The Central Asian countries aren't fully exploiting their hydropower potential, Managing Director, Head of the Directorate of Sustainability at the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) Conrad Albrecht said at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27), Trend reports via the EDB.
Central Asia has a significant hydropower potential with a technically exploitable capability of 510.1 TWh per year, out of which less than 10 percent is being used.
According to him, the region's hydropower potential varies considerably from country to country, depending on the water availability. The vast arid and semi-arid plains in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan have least or no hydropower potential. The mountainous regions of the east and southeast of Central Asia, including Tajikistan (61.1 percent of the total potential), Kyrgyzstan (19.4 percent) and partly Kazakhstan (12.1 percent), are characterized by a large water supply with heavy rainfall.
"In Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, over 90 percent of the electricity is provided by hydroelectric power plants (HPPs). Tajikistan's hydropower potential is ranked eighth in the world. Now only 4-5 percent of the existing potential is being used. The joint development of the complex in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Russia could contribute to additional GDP growth of 1.5 percent per year, increasing water supply by 40 percent and attracting additional investment resources of $22 billion," said Albrecht.