Asian Development Bank To Conduct Regional Research To Upgrade Energy Systems Of Central Asia

The Asian Development Bank /ADB/ will conduct regional research on upgrading energy systems of the Central Asian republics. The head of the unified controller's office of Central Asia's Unified Energy Systems /ESSA/, Aleksander Pridatkin, said that the power grid spanning southern Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan incorporates 83 power plants which generated 92 billion kWt/hour of electric power in 2000. In his words, the generated power provided consumers with sufficient energy. The region's power supply was raised owing to its linking with Russia's Unified Energy Systems via the grid of Kazakhstan. The ADB's research will be financed by the Japanese government's grant to the tune of 1,180,000 dollars. The ADB, in turn, will earmark 900,000 dollars with the states members of the ESSA also contributing to the research.