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Turkmenistan to double power exports, eyes Pakistani market
MARY (Turkmenistan): Turkmenistan completed an upgrade of its largest electric power plant on Saturday, which it hopes will help boost exports and eventually allow supplies to Pakistan, which would require the construction of a new transmission line.
The Central Asian nation, which sits on the world’s fourth-biggest natural gas reserves, has been hit hard by the plunge in global hydrocarbon prices and is seeking to diversify exports in order to increase its hard currency earnings.
Launching the upgraded gas- and steam-turbine plant in the southern Mary province, Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov said it would boost power exports by three billion kilowatt hours (kWh) from the current 3.3bn kWh a year.
“In the future, we plan to build a gas turbine power plant on the Turkmen-Afghan border together with Japan’s Sumitomo,” he said.
In addition to its current customers — Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey — Ashgabat plans to tap Pakistan’s market by building a power transmission line through Afghanistan, where it is already laying a gas pipeline in the same direction.
The Mary power plant upgrade, carried out by Turkey’s Calik Holding together with United States’ General Electric, cost $1.2 billion, a government source told Reuters.
Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2018
Comments (24) Closed
Importing electricity from Turkmenistan will prove costly to Pakistan. India is an electricity surplus nation.Pakistan should import cheap electricity from India like Bangladesh.
Excellent source for energy supply.
We need the energy but we do not need the instability Americans have created in Afghanistan. This will be a foreign policy test.
Every country is making attempts to earn money by increasing trade. Wish the same happens in South Asian nations too.
Good too Turkmenistan trying to rise after loosing lots of land and gold mines for debt financing. Pakistan should support neighbor. Turkmenistan is fighting an economic crunch and liquidity crisis due to debt repayments to China. Tajikistan has sold the right to develop a gold mine to a Chinese company in lieu of refunding the loans.
@Bitter Truth How come there is power cuts in India, if it has surplus electric.
@Bitter Truth ,I am surprised by news that your country has surplus electric power. There are a wide spread shortages through out India, just one example is UP and Bengal.
Actually we need better high power line and Bill collection system. We have add 12000 MW during the last Five years.
GE is holding a share in the power supply. This is alarming. should be cautious. Pakistan has a huge potentiality to create the sufficient electricity inside the country. Patience will earn self respect reward. Be patient and supportive.
Power and gas supply lines crossing troubled lands are always a dangerous matter. We have already seen several failures even before starting of several of such gas and electricity transmission proposals.
wow all the current research on power supply and demand shows overall nation has a little over capacity.. its the circuler debit vs. distribution or what they call as grid capacity or trasmission loss.. as an example cars vs. roads. we have plenty of cars on roads but poor roads.. Fix the distribution and transmission issue first.. and collection or dues..
Why can't the new PTI administration in Islamabad plan and strategize a similar to Mary Gas-and-Steam turbine power plant or a gas-turbine power plant be designed, installed, tested and commissioned through the same Japan' Sumitomo company or the U.S. Turk consortium of copmanies, for the land and people of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan?
Stability in Afghanistan is a must for success of this project.
Learn self sufficiency instead of exporting. Build your own dams, solar, wind, nuclear power stations. Save money and help naya Pakistan be a success.
@parveez shafi india is power surplus nation.... There are lesser power cuts nowadays...
@Arshad ,Canada You should keep yourself updated. India has already become an electricity surplus nation. Neighbouring countries like Nepal,Bhutan and Bangladesh are importing cheap electricity from India. Although I agree that India is still not 100% electrified which means that electricity is there but the essential infrastructure to transmit electricity is absent in some villages. We are targeting to electrify each and every home by 2022 in India. Pakistan can also benefit like other neighbours by importing cheap electricity.
@parveez shafi The frequency of power cuts in India has drastically reduced. Power cuts occur due to technical problems and not due to shortage of electricity.
why not build our own dams instead of bying. Stratup costs are high but pakistan will benefit from it fir next 50 years
Just as an FYI. India is as surplus a nation in electricity as Pakistan is. Majority of Indians face same power shortages as Pakistan does. Ask any ordinary Indian.
@Bitter Truth Pakistan must not do any business with enemy like India.
@Bitter Truth Stop lying.
@parveez shafi power cuts ? Not anywhere I saw
@Arshad ,Canada Thats not due to shortage of power. Hope you try and understand power sector. Theft , pilferage , illegal connections and use is a huge problem in India
Pakistan doesn't have money to their own power producers. What is the guarantee that Turkmenistan will get money? Half the transmitted power would have been lost in Afghanistan.