Wiring up the CIS
Wiring up the CIS
If a “common market” for electricity is to be created across the Commonwealth of Independent States, CIS, harmonising the technologies of several different national grids may be the easy bit. Instead, energy experts interviewed by NBCentralAsia say the key preconditions are that the same legal rules apply to all regional states, and that individual countries smooth difficult relationships with their neighbours.
When the CIS’s Energy Council met in Astana late last week, the main topic on the agenda was a plan to create a single energy market for all members, underpinned by common legal arrangements, so as to ensure a secure supply of electricity for all the countries involved.
Nesipkul Bertisbaev, director of the electricity and coal department at Kazakstan’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, told NBCentralAsia that an outline plan already exists and has the backing of most CIS members. But he cautioned that implementing the scheme will take time, since member states have differing energy legislation and are not all at the same level of market economic development.
“Energy legislation must be harmonised…, and identical standards must be applied to market relationships governing electricity, so that [members] can deal with each other on equal terms and follow the same rules within the single market,” said Bertisbaev.
Other energy experts interviewed by NBCentralAsia argued that political factors are the central obstacle to the plan.
Jura Babaev, an advisor to the head of Tajikistan’s state electricity provider Barki Tojik, said the most important requirement is that there is political stability in the region, and that members are able to resolve their differences through diplomacy.
Babaev noted the particular problems that have arisen between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the electricity sector. These, he argued, are more political than technical. As a result, he said, Tajikistan will only be able to play a full partner in the single energy market in three years’ time, once it can export electricity via routes that bypass Uzbekistan.
“Although our two countries sign agreements every year, they are not honoured by the Uzbek side,” he said. “Tajikistan currently faces a critical situation when it comes to importing or exporting electricity when it needs to do so. The way out of this situation is to bypass Uzbekistan and link into the Kyrgyz electricity grid, which will happen when the South-North power line is put in place.”
Energy experts say that only Kazakstan and Russia are at a point where they are fully geared up to move to a common market. They only have to harmonise the technical parameters of their national grids, which Bertisbaev said is already happening, and then install the technology to synchronise the two systems.
(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)
When the CIS’s Energy Council met in Astana late last week, the main topic on the agenda was a plan to create a single energy market for all members, underpinned by common legal arrangements, so as to ensure a secure supply of electricity for all the countries involved.
Nesipkul Bertisbaev, director of the electricity and coal department at Kazakstan’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, told NBCentralAsia that an outline plan already exists and has the backing of most CIS members. But he cautioned that implementing the scheme will take time, since member states have differing energy legislation and are not all at the same level of market economic development.
“Energy legislation must be harmonised…, and identical standards must be applied to market relationships governing electricity, so that [members] can deal with each other on equal terms and follow the same rules within the single market,” said Bertisbaev.
Other energy experts interviewed by NBCentralAsia argued that political factors are the central obstacle to the plan.
Jura Babaev, an advisor to the head of Tajikistan’s state electricity provider Barki Tojik, said the most important requirement is that there is political stability in the region, and that members are able to resolve their differences through diplomacy.
Babaev noted the particular problems that have arisen between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the electricity sector. These, he argued, are more political than technical. As a result, he said, Tajikistan will only be able to play a full partner in the single energy market in three years’ time, once it can export electricity via routes that bypass Uzbekistan.
“Although our two countries sign agreements every year, they are not honoured by the Uzbek side,” he said. “Tajikistan currently faces a critical situation when it comes to importing or exporting electricity when it needs to do so. The way out of this situation is to bypass Uzbekistan and link into the Kyrgyz electricity grid, which will happen when the South-North power line is put in place.”
Energy experts say that only Kazakstan and Russia are at a point where they are fully geared up to move to a common market. They only have to harmonise the technical parameters of their national grids, which Bertisbaev said is already happening, and then install the technology to synchronise the two systems.
(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)
