BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, September 11. Kazakhstan will swap 1.5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity to Kyrgyzstan from September of this year until April 2024 in exchange for water, Yerbol Sarypbekov, an advisor to the Kazakhstan Embassy in Kyrgyzstan, said, Trend reports.
The electricity from Kazakhstan will be supplied until April, while Kyrgyzstan will meet its end of the bargain during the next year's summer.
During the autumn and winter, when Kyrgyzstan faces a shortage of electricity, the country gets electricity from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. During summer, when Kyrgyzstan has an increase in rival water levels, it provides water to those countries.
The embassy advisor said that the mentioned 1.5 billion K/h is a substantial increase compared to the previous year, when only a swap of 500 million kilowatt-hours was discussed.
The prolonged swap will allow preserving water levels in the Kirov, Orto-Tokoy, and Toktogul reservoirs in Kyrgyzstan from September through April.
A meeting of representatives from the energy and water management departments of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan was held in Astana on August 25-26. During this meeting, matters concerning electric power supply for the upcoming autumn-winter season, as well as cooperation in other areas, were discussed.