«Bishkek HPP is ready for conversion to gas, no special investments will be required for this,» Deputy Director General of Gazprom Kyrgyzstan LLC, Arzymat Aldayarov, said at a press conference.
According to him, work is now underway to prepare transit capacities and study the possibilities of supplying the necessary volume of gas.
As for investments, the work has already been done. Improvement of reliability of main gas pipelines, repair of gas distribution stations have been done, among other things, in order to make it possible to switch the capital’s HPP to gas.
«Now we are working with neighboring countries. Last year we conducted an experiment together with the Bishkek HPP. In summer, several boilers worked entirely on gas. There are no problems, the boilers carry the design load. Now we are considering a complete conversion of the capital’s HPP to gas. This is an ambitious project, which the Cabinet of Ministers wants to realize. If it happens, it will be not earlier than the beginning of 2025. We have already started preparatory work. It is planned that the relevant agreements and contracts will be signed in the summer. But we must understand that the transit capacities of neighboring countries are not unlimited. If we undertake to convert the Bishkek HPP to gas, the company that owns the facility must take and pay for these volumes. After all, Gazprom will pay transit countries for reserving gas volumes in the main gas pipelines,» Arzymat Aldayarov said.
It should be noted that to date the annual volume of gas consumption by the HPP of the capital is about 90 million cubic meters. After the complete transfer of the facility to this type of fuel, it is planned that the figure will grow to 560 million cubic meters per year.
