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Turkmenistan is taking consistent steps to increase the volume and diversify routes for the supply of electricity to Afghanistan. Myrat Artykov, head of the Department of the Ministry of Energy for International Projects in the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan direction, spoke about current and planned events in this area at the Turkmen-Afghan business forum that opened on Monday in Ashgabat.

Currently, electricity is sent from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan along the Kerki- Andkhoy, Serhetabat-Herat, Serhetabat-Turgundi, Rabatkashan-Kalainau and Zelili-Akina routes. As Artykov noted, since the establishment of cooperation in this area between the two countries, the volumes of Turkmen electricity sent to this country have been growing every year.

In January 2021, the Kerki power plant with a capacity of 500 kW and the Kerki- Andkhoy-Shibergan-Mazar-i-Sharif power transmission line were put into operation. To implement this project, the Ministry of Energy of Turkmenistan built a 500 kW power plant in the city of Kerki, a power transmission line with a length of 388 km from the Mary hydroelectric station to the city of Kerki, as well as a 500 kV power transmission line from Kerki with a length of 62 km to the Turkmen- Afghan border.

According to the purchase and sale agreement between the Turkmenenergo corporation and the Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS) company, 220 kV of electrical power is currently being transmitted in this direction. In the near future, it is planned to extend the route of this line to the capital of Afghanistan, Kabul, and supply electricity with a capacity of 500 kV.

In 2024, Turkmenistan intends to send a total of 1,835,300,000 kWh of electricity to fraternal Afghanistan.

At the same time, in order to fully satisfy the electricity demand of consumers in the Afghan provinces of Herat, Farah and Kandahar, promote the socio-economic development of the neighboring country and its successful integration into international economic relations, the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan power transmission line project was launched.

The project investor is the Turkish company Calik Holding A.S. According to the concept presented by the company, this project is planned to be implemented in three stages.

At the first stage - the construction of a power transmission line from the Mary hydroelectric station to the province of Herat with a length of 375 km and a capacity of 220 kV; on the second - power lines from MaryHPP to the city of Quetta in Pakistan with a length of 1150 km and a power of 500 kV; on the third - 220 kV power transmission lines with a length of 575 km from Herat province to Kandahar province in Afghanistan.

As part of the implementation of the first stage of the project, in August 2021, the investor company completely completed the construction and installation work of the Turkmen part, the new power transmission system was brought into a state of

readiness for connection to the energy system of Afghanistan. At the same time, the investor company, free of charge, overhauled the existing 110 kV power transmission line from the Turkmen-Afghan border to the Afghan city of Herat and prepared the power transmission system for operation at a power of 220 kV.

Construction and installation work is currently underway to expand the Nur-ul- Jihad power plant in Herat; during this month, modern technological equipment will be installed there and commissioning work will be carried out.

The commissioning of this important facility will increase the volume of electricity supplied from Turkmenistan to Herat from the current 70 MW to 120 MW.

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