Head of the Information Policy Service of the President Daiyrbek Orunbekov commented on the power outages in Kyrgyzstan in a post on Facebook.
He apologized for the inconvenience caused and explained that the current energy deficit has long-term roots.
According to Orunbekov, Kyrgyzstan still heavily depends on hydropower plants built 60–70 years ago. Since gaining independence, the country has not constructed any large new energy facilities for nearly three decades, while the population, construction volumes, and electricity consumption have continued to grow each year.
«Power outages affect all of us. I live in the same conditions, so I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience,» Daiyrbek Orunbekov said.
He emphasized that the energy shortage is not new — in the past, it was often addressed through importing expensive electricity, which in turn increased the country’s external debt.
Orunbekov noted that real steps toward energy independence began in 2021, including the construction of Kambar-Ata-1 hydropower plant, which will have a capacity of 1,860 megawatts and could make Kyrgyzstan self-sufficient — and even an electricity exporter — in the future.
In addition, several new and modernized hydropower plants have already been or will soon be launched in 2024–2025:
- Bala-Saruu HPP — 25 MW
- Kainama HPP — 9.6 MW
- Kok-Art HPP — 6.7 MW
- Kara-Kul HPP — 18 MW (to be commissioned in 2025)
- Toktogul HPP modernization added 240 MW of capacity.
Additionally, Kyrgyzstan plans to build small and medium hydropower plants with a total capacity exceeding 500 MW by 2030.
