The funding will be used for the development of new 500MW back-to-back converter station at Dashte Alwan to connect a new 500kV interconnection line with Turkmenistan with another 500kV line stretching to Kabul, Afghanistan.
The converter will allow import of power to Afghan grid from Turkmenistan as part of a 10-year power purchase and sales agreement signed in 2015.
Additionally, the funding will be used to build a 180km 220kV transmission line from Doshi to Bamyan to expand the grid to at least eight additional provinces.
This project is expected to power nearly 150,000 people while providing redundancy to the existing transmission network.
Of the total funding, the Asian Development Fund provided $188.23m, $1m was provided by the China Regional Cooperation and Poverty Reduction Fund while the remaining $225.7m is co-financed by the ADB-administered Afghanistan Infrastructure Trust Fund (AITF).
ADB Afghanistan Resident Mission senior energy specialist Asad Aleem said: "Insufficient energy supplies constrain growth and income opportunities that can fuel ethnic and regional tensions, as well as insecurity.
“This assistance will support the government’s $10.1bn national energy supply program, which aims to expand power supply to boost economic growth and cut poverty.”
The country’s national grid is not synchronized with the systems of Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, thus resulting in higher costs and reduced reliability of supply.
ADB said that the funding will support the government’s national energy supply program, which aims to increase electrification rate from 30% to 83% by boosting the domestic generation from 20% to 67% by 2030.
Image: Afghanistan intends to boost its cross-border energy trade. Photo: courtesy of Asian Development Bank.
