Central Asia Blackout Traced to Key Hydropower Plant
World's Largest Electric Plane Flies for 27 Minutes on $5 of Power The investment could inadvertently boost… Eurasianet is an independent news organization that covers news from and about the South Caucasus and Central Asia, providing on-the-ground reporting and critical perspectives on… Kyrgyzstan has provided some clarity on the source of the recent blackout that impacted four states in Central Asia, while vigorously denying blame for the cascading outage.
Power outages were first reported in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek during the afternoon of August 14 beforespreadingto southern Kazakhstan and portions of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
Kazakhstan’s Energy Ministry initiallyattributedthe disruption, which lasted several hours, to a “sudden change in the power flow” of the regional grid.
Confusion over the blackout’s source prevailed during subsequent hours and days.
Kazakh and Kyrgyz officials profferedcompeting versionsof events, each seeming to point the finger at the other.
Finally, on August 17, the Kyrgyz Energy Ministry published astatementcopping to being the cause of what it termed a “technological disruption.” The origin of the trouble was a failure at theToktogul hydropower plant.
“During the process of clarifying the circumstances of the technological disruption, a short-term shutdown of two generators at the Toktogul Hydroelectric Power Station was recorded, which became the initial disturbance in the parallel operations of the Unified Energy System of Central Asia and led to a change in power flows and the activation of emergency control systems,” according to the statement.
The Kyrgyz Energy Ministry went on to dispute the notion that the problem at the Toktogul facility triggered a cascade of outages, insisting that “this initial disturbance should not be equated with the direct cause of the shutdown of individual power systems and power nodes in other countries.” Safeguard procedures taken immediately by Kyrgyz authorities to isolate and regulate power transmission flows, thus containing the disruption caused by the Toktogul hiccup, were sufficient to maintain the stability of the regional grid, Kyrgyz officials claim.
The blackout that hit southern Kazakhstan, including Almaty, occurred after “the frequency” of the regional grid had been restored to “nominal values,” according to the statement.
Additional analysis is needed to determine the causes of the outages in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, the Kyrgyz statement contended, adding that a “special commission” will investigate.
Regional analysts see the incident as highlighting shortcomings in the regional power distribution system at a time when governments, especially Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, are pursuing economic growth strategies that are energy intensive.
That, along with warming caused by climate change, is generatingrecord demandfor electricity, thus straining infrastructure.
| Product | Price | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Brent Crude | $102.14/bbl | +0.34% |
| WTI Crude | $96.90/bbl | +0.21% |
| EN590 Diesel | $846/MT | +0.18% |
| Jet Fuel A-1 | $1090/MT | +0.55% |
| Mazut M100 | $450/MT | -0.15% |
| Bitumen 60/70 | $470/MT | +0.08% |
| Sulphur Gran 99.5% | $470/MT | -0.44% |
| Urea 46% Gran | $650/MT | +1.12% |
| NPK 16-16-16 | $460/MT | -0.28% |
| Nat Gas TTF | $15.42/MMBtu | +0.92% |
Comments
Post a Comment