Regional : Regional Cooperation on Increasing Cross-Border Energy Trading within the Central Asian Power System

Sovereign Project | 52112-001

The regional knowledge and support technical assistance (TA) cluster will support an increase in regional power trade among Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan by (i) modernizing the coordinating dispatch center (CDC) Energiya, which coordinates power flow between the national electricity grids of the Central Asian power system (CAPS), to enhance its technical capacity; (ii) identifying the technical obstacles to power trade for CAPS, and proposing and coordinating solutions to overcome them for each country; and (iii) supporting the expansion of CAPS membership and seeking new markets.

Project Name Regional Cooperation on Increasing Cross-Border Energy Trading within the Central Asian Power System
Project Number 52112-001
Country / Economy Regional
Afghanistan
Kazakhstan
Kyrgyz Republic
Tajikistan
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan
Project Status Active
Project Type / Modality of Assistance Technical Assistance
Source of Funding / Amount
TA 0036-REG: Regional Cooperation on Increasing Cross-Border Energy Trading within the Central Asian Power System
Technical Assistance Special Fund US$ 1.50 million
High Level Technology Fund US$ 1.00 million
Regional Cooperation and Integration Fund US$ 500,000.00
Asian Clean Energy Fund under the Clean Energy Financing Partnership Facility US$ 1.00 million
TA 0036-REG: Regional Cooperation on Increasing Cross-Border Energy Trading within the Central Asian Power System (Supplementary)
Technical Assistance Special Fund US$ 500,000.00
TA 0036-REG: Regional Cooperation on Increasing Cross-Border Energy Trading within the Central Asian Power System
Regional Cooperation and Integration Fund US$ 450,000.00
TA 0036-REG: Regional Cooperation on Increasing Cross-Border Energy Trading within the Central Asian Power System
Technical Assistance Special Fund US$ 300,000.00
TA 0036-REG: Regional Cooperation on Increasing Cross-Border Energy Trading within the Central Asian Power System
Technical Assistance Special Fund US$ 150,000.00
Technical Assistance Special Fund US$ 100,000.00
Operational Priorities OP1: Addressing remaining poverty and reducing inequalities
OP2: Accelerating progress in gender equality
OP3: Tackling climate change, building climate and disaster resilience, and enhancing environmental sustainability
OP6: Strengthening governance and institutional capacity
OP7: Fostering regional cooperation and integration
Sector / Subsector

Energy / Electricity transmission and distribution - Energy sector development and institutional reform

Gender Some gender elements
Description

The regional knowledge and support technical assistance (TA) cluster will support an increase in regional power trade among Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan by (i) modernizing the coordinating dispatch center (CDC) Energiya, which coordinates power flow between the national electricity grids of the Central Asian power system (CAPS), to enhance its technical capacity; (ii) identifying the technical obstacles to power trade for CAPS, and proposing and coordinating solutions to overcome them for each country; and (iii) supporting the expansion of CAPS membership and seeking new markets.

2.In March 2018, countries at the Energy Sector Coordinating Committee meeting under the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) program agreed to request TA from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to bridge the gap between energy supply and demand by facilitating cross-border trading. The TA is fully aligned with the CAREC 2030 strategy for (i) promoting energy trade and further integrating energy markets in the CAREC region and (ii) connecting Afghanistan with CAPS. The TA also directly supports the CAREC Energy Work Plan, 20162020, especially element 2 on promoting regional electricity trade and harmonization. However, it is not included in any of ADB's country operations business plans.

The cluster will include three subprojects that will aim to support the increase in power trade within CAPS by (i) introducing an energy data management (EDM) system to CDC to enable a safe increase of energy flow within CAPS; (ii) identifying and offering solutions to any technical bottlenecks to regional power trade that may occur in any of the CAPS countries; and (iii) facilitating power trade within CAPS, expanding CAPS membership, and exploring additional potential energy markets to increase potential for power trade.

The TA cluster modality is appropriate as each subproject has individually identifiable outputs that contribute to a single outcome. Since the subprojects are strategically linked with the common overall objective, the TA cluster modality will allow them to be flexibly designed and implemented, leading to better sequencing of TA activities than with a stand-alone TA. The cluster TA modality also allows ADB to sequentially commit funds based on the actual progress.

Project Rationale and Linkage to Country/Regional Strategy

Diminished power trade in the region. Power trade among Central Asian countries has been declining since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. In 1990, 25,413 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) were traded among Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. By 2010, the energy trade had decreased to 2,256 million kWh following the disconnection of Tajikistan from CAPS in 2009; it bottomed out in 2016 at 2,080 million kWh.

4.Technical constraints on capacity to trade power. During the time of the Soviet Union, the Central Asian energy flow between the electricity grids of southern Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan was regulated by the United Dispatch Administration of Central Asia (based in Tashkent, Uzbekistan), subordinated to the central dispatch and planning institution in Moscow. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, United Dispatch Administration became nongovernment organization in 1993 and was renamed to CDC. The governance was assigned to the Central Asia United Power System Council (CAUPS), comprising the heads of the national power systems. The council was responsible for the administration and coordination of the parallel operations of CAPS. In 2004, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, the Kyrgyz Republic, and Uzbekistan concluded an intergovernmental agreement on the coordination of electricity grids of Central Asia. CDC was given the status of international organization working under the guidance of the CAUPS. Turkmenistan withdrew from CAPS in 2003 and switched to parallel operations with Iran. The signatories provide the financing for CDC.

5.Unlike the national dispatch centers in the Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, and Tajikistan, no significant technological modernizations were made at CDC since it was established in the 1960s and conversion to a non-governmental organization. CDC relies on outdated technologies to perform its functions, including (i) coordination of the operations of power systems and energy entities within CAPS, (ii) determination of the conditions for the parallel operation of CAPS, (iii) coordination of operation personnel's actions during intersystem emergencies and elimination of intersystem accidents, (iv) coordination of relay protection and automation of circuits and settings, (v) coordination of operation of dispatch data acquisition and transmission systems, and (vi) control over measurements and metering of international power flows within CAPS.

6.CDC's technological limitations, which constrain regional power trade, include the following: (i) power flows within CAPS are forecast 6 months in advance using historical data and cannot be adjusted using real-time figures; accordingly, power flow planning is not optimized because of unnecessarily high safety factors; (ii) in the event of an accident on the grid, the site of the fault can take a day or longer to locate; (iii) the settlement of power flows between countries is unnecessarily long as the actual metered flows and reported flows do not match up because of the quality of CDC's telemetry; and (iv) newly constructed assets cannot be monitored without taking out something else; thus, CDC does not have a full picture of all important sites at once.

Impact

CAREC 2030 Program Results Framework.

Countries' emissions reductions target achieved, regional cooperation framework accomplished and energy security in selected CAREC countries enhanced

Project Outcome
Description of Outcome

Cross-border clean energy trade increased using high-level technology by CDC Energiya

Progress Toward Outcome
Implementation Progress
Description of Project Outputs

CDC Energiya modernized, capacitated, and engendered

Solutions to the bottlenecks to regional power trade provided

Membership in CAPS expanded

Status of Implementation Progress (Outputs, Activities, and Issues)
Geographical Location Regional
Summary of Environmental and Social Aspects
Environmental Aspects
Involuntary Resettlement
Indigenous Peoples
Stakeholder Communication, Participation, and Consultation
During Project Design
During Project Implementation
Business Opportunities
Consulting Services International and national consultants will be recruited individually through framework agreements wherein short-listed consultants may be hired as needed for the duration of the agreement to provide technical expertise and logistical support to ADB and the implementing agencies. Firms will also be recruited using the quality- and cost-based selection with a 90:10 quality-to-cost ratio. The consultants will be engaged in accordance with the ADB Procurement Policy (2017, as amended from time to time) and the associated project administration instructions and/or staff instructions. The estimated cost and requisite fields of expertise are indicative and estimates will be finalized before the approval of each TA subproject in consultation with the implementing agencies.
Procurement Procurement by the consultant will follow the ADB Procurement Policy and the Procurement Regulations for ADB Borrowers (2017, as amended from time to time).
Responsible ADB Officer Chansavat, Bouadokpheng
Responsible ADB Department Central and West Asia Department
Responsible ADB Division Energy Division, CWRD
Executing Agencies
Asian Development Bank
Timetable
Concept Clearance 01 Feb 2020
Fact Finding 14 Mar 2018 to 14 Mar 2018
MRM -
Approval 29 Nov 2018
Last Review Mission -
Last PDS Update 05 Dec 2018

TA 0036-REG

Financing Plan/TA Utilization Cumulative Disbursements
ADB Cofinancing Counterpart Total Date Amount
Gov Beneficiaries Project Sponsor Others
3,500,000.00 2,000,000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 5,500,000.00 - 0.00

Project Data Sheets (PDS) contain summary information on the project or program. Because the PDS is a work in progress, some information may not be included in its initial version but will be added as it becomes available. Information about proposed projects is tentative and indicative.

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Evaluation Documents See also: Independent Evaluation

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Related Publications

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Tenders

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Contracts Awarded

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Procurement Plan

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