BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 24. The Uzbek government plans to expand its list of electricity suppliers in 2023, Trend reports via the press service of Uzbekistan’s Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov.
Due to the depletion of reserves, growing cold weather, technological losses, and the lack of an effective control system, the electricity supply to Uzbekistan's population has decreased.
In this regard, Abdulla Aripov instructed the Ministry of Energy to review issues of electricity supply and attract new electricity importers.
Furthermore, Uzbekistan has the potential to produce 56.3 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 2023, increasing by 4.6 billion compared to the figure for last year (51.7 billion). Taking into consideration the mentioned problems, this volume will not be enough to fully provide Uzbekistan's population with electricity.
In this regard, Uzbekneftegaz JSC should increase the volume of gas production to 32.8 billion cubic meters in 2023. In order to realize the task, 744 geological and technical measures will be implemented with a total cost of 5.7 trillion soums ($505.4 million).
Earlier in January, Uzbekistan increased importing volumes of electricity from Tajikistan to provide light to the country’s Surkhandarya region. Some 220 kV of electricity was supplied to Uzbekistan's Surkhandarya region from the Tajik "Regar-500" substation through the L-Regar-Zarchop and L-Regar-Sherabad lines.