Are Small Hydroelectric Stations the Way Forward?

Small hydroelectric power stations may offer many advantages in a country like Tajikistan, but energy analysts say such schemes have their limitations, and do not provide a complete solution to ongoing energy shortages.



Last week, the Tajik parliament began discussing amendments to energy legislation which would create better conditions for building small hydroelectric stations.



Tajikistan is rich in hydroelectric resources and currently has 30 small and medium-sized schemes plus two big power stations in operation. Foreign investors are helping with a number of major hydroelectric projects, and a long-term programme has been devised which would see 71 small stations built by 2020.



Despite the abundance of water, Tajikistan has suffered winter electricity shortages for many years, since most of the power is generated over the summer as glaciers melt and reservoirs are drained to allow irrigation further downstream. The start of the current winter saw a worse-than-usual crisis as several districts were deprived of electricity for a month.



Nadejda Leonidova, director of the Hydroenergoproject Institute, says one possible solution would be to gradually develop smaller plants. With widespread network of tributary waterways, Tajikistan has the right conditions to do this. According to Leonidova, building small hydroelectric stations is not capital-intensive and is also ecologically clean.



The electricity they generate is less expensive than that from the big plants. “The energy they produce will come cheaper than the national grid,” she said. “Small-scale plants will make for significantly more efficient and secure power supplies.”



Abdullo Kurbonov, an expert with the energy and industry ministry, also sees the future as lying in smaller units. “Building small hydroelectric power stations will in the future meet the needs of remote mountainous areas that are still not connected up to the national grid,” he pointed out.



However, some observers say that built into the economics of smaller power stations there are also risk factors such as the frequent landslides in mountainous areas.



“Experience shows that the big hydroelectric stations are still the most efficient. They have longer operational lives, and they don’t break down as often as the small ones,” said Abdugaffor Raufi, director of the Institute for Economy. “Even an average-sized landslide can be a big threat to a small power station.”



(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)