The Turkmen company Türkmenenergogurluşyk (TurkmenEnergyConstruction) of the ministry of energy has been authorized to sign a contract with the Afghan company Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat for the design, supply, construction, installation, testing and commissioning of switchgears unit at the Nur-el-Jihad power plant in the Herat province of Turkmenistan.
The Nur-el-Jihad power plant constitutes the first leg of the Herat-Farah-Kandahar route for TAP (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan) power supply network.
In an earlier report, the media site Turkmen Portal reported on 28 January 2022:
Today, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan signed an agreement on increasing the capacity of the power transmission line for the Nur al-Jihad substation from 110 kV to 220 kV. This is reported by the Chinese News Agency Xinhua with reference to the representatives of the Afghan Energy company Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS).
“After four days of negotiations held in Kabul among DABS officials and members of the arrived delegation of Turkmenistan as well as representatives of Calik Enerji, a contract was signed to increase the power supply capacity of the Nur-al-Jihad substation from 110 kV to 220 kV,” the message reads.
The Head of International Energy Projects of Turkmenistan Myrat Artykov led the Turkmen delegation.
In addition to the substation project, the parties discussed the construction of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan transmission line.
There is an acute shortage of electricity in Afghanistan. According to DABS representatives, the mountainous country requires 850 megawatts of electricity per year. Domestic electricity producers supply only 230 megawatts, the remaining 620 megawatts are imported from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Iran.
Turkmenistan has been supplying electricity on preferential terms to Afghanistan for many years. In September last year, a gas turbine power plant with a capacity of 432 MW was put into operation in the Chardjev District of the Lebap Region, which will increase the volume of electricity supplies to the countries of Central Asia, as well as to Afghanistan. /// nCa, 14 March 2022