Christian Urban
Christian Urban (CEO)

„Fairness, competence, creativity, morality, decency and respect are the basis for success in business and a fulfilled life.“

Solar power plant Nurek

Tajikistan - climate-neutral electricity production within the Central Asia Water Initiative

Prameters of the project

  • Electricity generation in Tajikistan is mainly based on hydropower (about 93%) and is (except Pamir Energy) in state hands (Barki Tojik);
  • Import of electricity due to meteorological conditions in the autumn / winter period, export of electricity to pay back in the summer period / revenue generation;
  • Hydropower plants in Tajikistan have a power generation capacity of approximately 4.7 GW;
  • The stated aim of the Government of Tajikistan for 2020 is the stable self-supply of the industry and the population with electricity, and the expansion of exports to the diversification of foreign trade;

The Project

Planning and implementation of a solar power plant at the Nurek hydroelectric power station in cooperation with German industry to compensate the reduced power generation in the autumn and winter period (reduced output approx 450 MW due to lack of water in the reservoir).

About 50 km east of Dushanbe the Nurek Dam dammed the Wachsch river / tributary of the Amu Darya. It was built between 1961-1980 as a 704 m long rockfill dam, construction volume approximately 54 million m³. The storage space of the reservoir is approximately 10.5 billion cubic meters, the water surface km² approx 106 km². The hydropower plant with nine turbines has a rated output of 3,600 megawatts approx. This is sufficient to supply almost all of Tajikistan with electricity. In addition to the power supply the dam also serves irrigation of 70,000 hectares of agricultural farm land.

The plan is to use the hydroelectric power station Nurek as an energy storage through an intelligent energy management system to compensate the time of day and weather-dependent electricity generation of solar power plant (about 2,800 hours of sunshine annually).

In order to create the conditions for the planning and implementation of the project the foundation stone was laid by an agreement closed between the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources of the Republic of Tajikistan by Minister Usmonzoda U.Y. and the DPU Investment GmbH. DPU Investment GmbH was among others commissioned to conduct the negotiations with German companies, government agencies, institutions and organizations and to attract to participate in the project.

Aim of the Project

Contribution to the expansion and diversification of the German-Tajik economic relations. The successful implementation of the pilot project could be found apply at other hydroelectric power plants in Tajikistan, make a contribution to the Central Asia Water Initiative of the Federal Foreign Office, lead to new considerations of the Republic of Tajikistan in the energy policy and for relaxation in Central Asia as well as to contribute and overcome existing concerns regarding the economically beneficial use of solar energy.