OREANDA-NEWS. May 15, 2008. Electric power production will be considerably increased in Turkmenistan within the next three-four years. In the period two new electric power stations with the capacity of 254 megawatt each will be put into operation in Ashkhabad and Avaza, the Balkanabat hydropower station is to increase production capacity, one of the largest power plants in the region – the Mary hydropower station will be modernized. The activities aimed at developing power infrastructure will enable to increase electric power production up 20 billion kilowatt a year that is as many as three times as compared to 2007.

During the years of independence Turkmenistan’s power industry has received a powerful incentive to develop that was evidenced by the concrete facts. Five new electric power stations equipped with the General Electric gas-turbine units were built in the country. The production capacity of the operating Seydi thermal power plant and the Mary hydropower plant were increased that was conditioned by the domestic demands for electrical power as well as volumes of exports increased with every passing year.

The electric power station under construction to the northeast of Ashgabat, which along with another power station built at the foothills of the Kopetdag Mountains and the Abadan hydropower station will ensure uninterrupted power supply to Ashgabat for many years ahead. The hydropower station to be built in Avaza is to fulfill the same task. Production capacity of the Balkanabat hydropower station is increased to ensure uninterrupted power supply to the newly-constructed industrial facilities in the west of Turkmenistan.

Increasing the potential of the power industry will create vast the opportunities for forming the multivariant system of the Turkmen electrical power export routes. Turkmenistan will increase electrical power export to the neighboring countries as well as to Pakistan and Western Europe.

A priority of the power industry development programme is to create the domestic power supply system basing on dynamic development of national economy. It is planned to construct 18 substations and to replace overhead power transmission lines with cable network. 15 substations will be constructed in Avaza.

The Ministry of Energy and Industry of Turkmenistan successfully fulfills the designated tasks as well as implements the large-scale social program at its own expenses. The building of the Turkmen State Energy Institute is under construction in Mary. Achieving the goals of the reform programs initiated by the Turkmen leader dozens of apartment houses, schools and kindergartens are constructed at the request of the Ministry all over the country.