Azernews.Az

By Nigar Abbasova

Turkmenistan commissioned a new state power plant Vatan with the capacity of 254 megavolts. Turkmen president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov honored the event, Turkmenistan.ru reported.

The power plant was constructed by the Turkish Çalık Enerji Company by the order of the country’s Turkmenenergo state power engineering corporation.

The facility is comprised of the complex of technological buildings as well as three gas-turbine installations manufactured by the U.S. General Electric Company.

The construction process was launched in April, 2015. Commissioning of the plant was initially scheduled for December, 2016. Nevertheless the country has managed to complete the construction process ahead of schedule.

The project is implemented to support energy sphere in the country, meet the country’s electricity requirements as well as provide all provinces with an uninterrupted power supply during all seasons of the year. The commissioning of the plant is also expected to increase export-potential of the country in electric-power industry as well as generate additional income in the sector.

Earlier the country’s energy ministry reported that the volume of electricity output amounted to 22.5 billion kilowatt per hour in 2015. Export volume to neighboring countries in this period was at the level of 3.2 billion kilowatt per hour.

Currently, the country is engaged in increasing electricity export to Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey. Turkmenistan also studies the possibility of the electricity export to Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan as well as the Caucasian region.

Turkmenistan plans to increase its electricity output up to 27.4 and 35.5 billion kilowatt per hour by 2020 and 2030 respectively, according to the country’s power industry development plan.

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Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova

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