ADB Funnels Capital to Tajikistan for Unifying Power Grid with Uzbekistan

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved an additional $15 million in grant financing to reconnect Tajikistan’s power grid to the Central Asian Unified Power System (CAPS). This project will facilitate the construction of a 22 km 500 kV transmission line between the Sughd substation in northern Tajikistan and the New Syrdarya substation in Uzbekistan.

The project aims to enhance electricity export-import capacity among CAPS countries, including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, while strengthening infrastructure to prevent grid failures. It will also prepare Tajikistan’s grid to provide power and frequency regulation services to integrate renewable energy across the region. Additionally, the project is crucial for the Rogun hydropower station’s power transmission scheme.

Tajikistan reconnected to the Central Asian power system in June 2024, after leaving in 2009. Originally established in the 1960s, the Unified Power System of Central Asia was managed by the Coordination and Dispatch Center in Tashkent but disbanded after the collapse of the USSR before being reformed in 2019 with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan rejoining.