With the arrival of winter, Central Asia is facing a serious power shortage. From the west of Kazakhstan to the south of Tajikistan, most of the people in the region are living in poverty, complaining, and even facing an emergency, even if it costs a lot of maintenance.

Uzbekistan is a landlocked country in the hinterland of Central Asia, and it is also the only way for the the Belt and Road to extend westward. Affected by drought, hydropower accounts for about 12% of the country's power generation. Therefore, about 88% of Uzbekistan's electricity is produced by thermal power plants, most of which use natural gas.

Central Asia suffers from power shortage

On November 4, 2021, the Ministry of Energy of Uzbekistan explained that the sandstorms in several regions had led to power outages, and the equipment of two large power plants in Tashkent and Syr Darya Prefecture was covered with dust. In order to clean the machines, the power had to be turned off, so power outages occurred in some areas. On January 25, 2022, large-scale power outages occurred in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, resulting in large-scale congestion of urban roads, suspension of subways and flights, and urban paralysis. The power supply failure was caused by overloading of a transit line in Kazakhstan. On the same day, a short circuit occurred in the separator between the thermal power plant in Sire Oblast and Tashkent substation in Uzbekistan. Subsequently, several power outages and surges occurred in some areas of Kazakhstan's unified power system, and the transient voltage was 7 times higher than the normal value.

There are many examples of large-scale power supply challenges faced by Central Asia. The reasons for some of these problems are quite obvious. The growing population, aging lines, water shortage, sandstorm weather, etc. are the main reasons for power outages. Some experts believe that it is the waste and improper use of energy. In the face of the serious power shortage in Central Asia, Uzbekistan has made a major decision to build a 1500MW gas combined cycle independent power plant in Sirhe Prefecture, Tashkent City, which will be the largest thermal power project built in Uzbekistan in recent years and the largest gas combined cycle power plant project in Central Asia.

The construction along the bank of the Si'er River is busy

A 25 hectare gas combined cycle power plant is under construction in Xilin District of Syr Darya Prefecture, 150 kilometers from Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. The power station is contracted by China Energy Construction Group, and the general designer of the project is IDOM of Spain. The main body of the project is a new 9H The 02 level combined cycle gas turbine power station will adopt advanced and efficient Mitsubishi H level gas turbine, with the net output of 1561.185MW, and the main fuel of the power station is natural gas. It is the largest gas combined cycle power station in Central Asia - the independent 1500MW gas combined cycle power station in Si'er River, Uzbekistan.

The total investment of the project is about 1.2 billion US dollars, covering the construction of gas combined cycle power plants, transmission lines and substations. The total construction period is 36 months. The gas turbine with the highest combustion temperature, the largest single power and the highest efficiency in the world and the design scheme of "zero wastewater discharge" can provide more than 36 million kilowatt hours of electricity for the local power grid every day, benefiting millions of residents in Uzbekistan. It is an important livelihood project planned by the Uzbek government.

On January 24, 2021, the 1500MW gas combined cycle independent power generation project of the Syr River in Uzbekistan officially started. Umurzakov, the Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan, witnessed the commencement of the project and made a speech, It is of milestone significance for the development of Uzbekistan's energy sector.

Entering the construction site, the outdoor temperature exceeded 40 degrees Celsius, and the workers who finished work in the morning are returning to the living area in succession. Most people hold a "huge" water cup in their hands, and there are also warm signs of "High temperature in summer, pay attention to heatstroke prevention" and "safety first" everywhere on the construction site.

At present, there are nearly 2000 people involved in the construction of the 1500 MW combined cycle power plant project on the Syr River, including more than 1000 local employees in Uzbekistan.

Wang Sijun, director of the quality management department of the 1500 MW combined cycle power plant project on the Syr River, said: "In fact, our engineering construction personnel are far more than Chinese and Uzbek people, but also engineers from the Philippines, Türkiye, Egypt and other countries. Most of them have international engineering construction experience and have high professional ability."

Babaniyazov, an engineer from Uzbekistan, has participated in the construction of the 1500 MW combined cycle power plant project on the Syr River since the beginning of construction. He said: "This project is of great significance to Uzbekistan, and it is also really related to his own life. I hope that we will not suffer from power failure after the completion of the project. I have learned a lot from working with Chinese friends in the past two years. They are serious, rigorous and experienced. Thank them for their hard work here."

Guo Xuejun, the deputy project manager in charge of the construction of the project, said: "As one of the largest gas combined cycle power plant projects in Central Asia and contracted by Chinese enterprises overseas, the gas combined cycle power plant project in Si'er River, Uzbekistan, makes full use of the rich local natural gas resources and adopts advanced and efficient H-class gas turbines, which can greatly improve the utilization rate of resources."

According to Guo Tianyu, the general manager of China Energy Construction International Group Central Asia Co., Ltd., the 1500 MW combined cycle power plant project on the Xier River can not only provide clean energy, but also adopt the "zero wastewater discharge" scheme in the project design. The water introduced from the Xier River will be purified and discharged after recycling.

Assist in the upgrading of Central Asian power system

The smooth construction of the 1500 MW combined cycle power plant on the Syr River has created an example of third-party cooperation among Chinese, Saudi, Japanese and Uzbek enterprises in technology, capital, construction and other fields.

At 10:30 on June 19, 2022, the China Europe train with 50 40 foot containers officially departed for Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. The special train carried cooling towers and other gas power plant equipment, with a total mileage of 6327 kilometers. It is expected to arrive in Tashkent in 10 days. This marks the successful operation of the first special train of the largest gas combined cycle power plant EPC project in Central Asia.

According to the person in charge of China Energy Construction's Xier River Project, the construction phase of the 1500MW combined cycle power plant on the Xier River has led to the employment of nearly 1000 people in the local upstream and downstream industrial chains. After the project is put into operation for power generation, the power generation company will also further increase the localization management and operation, attract more local employees, train more localized personnel for the operation and maintenance of the combined cycle power plant, accelerate the development of the combined cycle power plant industry in Uzbekistan, provide sufficient power for the local power grid, and help upgrade the power system in Uzbekistan and even Central Asia.

Uzbekistan is an important hub of the the Belt and Road. The Uzbek government has been committed to participating in the construction of the the Belt and Road and promoting economic and trade exchanges and energy cooperation. The 1500 MW gas combined cycle independent power generation project of the Syr River is an important livelihood project of the Uzbek government. It makes full use of the rich natural gas resources in the region, can supply more than 36 million kilowatt hours of power to the local power grid every day, benefit millions of residents, and have excellent environmental benefits. Editor/Zhao E