The largest wind power plant in the region is being built in Bostanlyke.

According to the company, the installed capacity of the equipment is 750 kW, height – 65 m, diameter of blades – 50 m, diameter at the base of the tower – 3.6 m. It is the first time that a wind power plant of such a scale has been established in Uzbekistan and Central Asia. During the year experts have been conducting studies using a specially constructed meteorological mast at the prospective site of the turbine. Wind strength, direction and temperature have been measured. Specialists from “Uzbekenergo” studied the installation experiences of more advanced countries in this field, such as China, Germany, Denmark, Norway and South Korea.

In 2011, a “turnkey” tender was held for the construction of 750kW wind turbines. The installation contract was awarded to Xian Electric Engineering, with the manufacturing being performed by Xinjiang Gold Wind Science Technology.

Xian Electric Engineering Company delivered the first batch of equipment: a foundation ring, hub and blades of wind power plant. The blades are made of reinforced glass epoxide resin and have a length of 23.5 m and a weight of 3 tonnes each. They were delivered from China to Uzbekistan by road.

This is the first step in a long-term plan to increase the capacity of electricity generation from wind power in Uzbekistan.

Original source: http://www.gazeta.uz/2012/10/08/wind/

In Spring 2012, etc4CA returned to the villages. The purposes of the visits were: to update the villagers on progress regarding the project; and, to alert them to what would be involved in the prospective installation. During these discussions three important points were made to the communities:

1. That the installation ‘go-ahead’ depended upon an approval of funding from a donor agency. Villagers were advised that the decision would be advised to etc4CA in June 2012.
2. That the village communities would have to contribute towards the installation of the turbines $1000 which would need to be received before the installation commenced. This is approximately 20% of the cost of the turbine system.
3. That the installations would take approximately one week and would require local assistance (i..e. labour) during that week.

To assist with the communications of the prospective installations, an A1 poster was provided to each village outlining the principle objectives of the project, the mechanics of a wind turbine system and the stages of installation.

Murghab Community

At Murghab we visited ACTED and the Governor of the region. ACTED continue to be very supportive of the whole project, however, they reported that they may now be prepared to initiate their own wind power project at Murghab House. We agreed that if this was the case then it would not be sensible to locate the etc4CA project turbine at the same location. Therefore, an evaluation of alternative requirements and sites in Murghab was commenced. The meeting with the Governor of the region was also very encouraging. His initial request was to have the turbine installed at Government House in order to provide electricity for the television mast (to boost the signal). However, it was explained to him that this site was not ideal in two respects:

1. The site is central to the town and therefore shielded from the best winds by the mountain to the west of Murghab
2. The site will suffer from wind turbulence created by Government House itself, which is a two storey building and also by turbulence from the television mast.

The Governor accepted these reasons and we then began discussions about alternative locations. He was particularly keen that the electricity provided a community service and we discussed the prospect of an installation for the hospital. A subsequent on-site assessment at the hospital revealed:

• A need for electricity. Although there has been a recent solar installation at the site this installation produces less than 1kW of energy. Furthermore, the panels are relatively inaccessible (on the sloping roof of the two storey building) and cannot be easily cleared of snow. They also provide little generation of electricity in the winter months and at night when the electricity is most needed.
• That the site is open to the main force of the westerly direction winds and is not shielded by the mountains (unlike Government House).
• That the site is quite large and whilst the hospital is a two storey building, locations on the site can be found where wind turbulence from the building is minimised.

It was subsequently agreed that the hospital site would be a good alternative site for installation, although probably not as good as the Murghab House site.

Toktamish Community

ACTED, META and MSDSP joined etc4CA in meeting with Toktamish community representatives. Since the last meeting in 2011, the community had been re-evaluating the electricity requirement for the project and had concluded that they would rather use the electricity in their hospital rather than their school. This suits the project, as the location of the hospital is nearer to the proposed site of the turbine (which remains as originally proposed).

Rangkul Community

META joined etc4CA at Rangkul in meeting with the Jamoat and Village Organisation officials of the village. Once again, the village community officials had re-evaluated the requirement location and, instead of the music school, they now felt it was important to supply the hospital with electricity. We met the doctor who then showed us around the basic services that he can provide in the small community clinic.
The hospital is perfectly placed for the originally proposed installation site and is immediately adjacent to the open area we have identified. Over the last 12 months they have also installed a mobile phone transmission mast in the area, however, this should not cause any undue turbulence.

Karakul Community

META again joined etc4CA at Karakul in meeting with the Jamoat and Village Organisation officials of the village. There had clearly been some misunderstanding at our previous visit since the community leader had thought that we were installing the turbine this year (i.e. 2012). This was unlikely to have been originally mis-communicated as the original team (ACTED, MSDSP, META, ourselves) had visited all four villages together in 2011 and there was no intention to deliver Karakul as a priority installation.
The community re-confirmed their desire to utilise the electricity in their hospital and despite the original misunderstanding were still very keen for the project to progress.

Conclusion

All four villages are eager to see this project progress into its pilot phase and Karakul, Rangkul and Toktamish have all expressed willingness to invest $1000 of village funds to the project. They all understand that this is a pilot to prove the two critical outcomes: that there is sufficient wind in the location to generate substantial amounts of electricity; that the turbine solutions can survive the climatic conditions of the Eastern Pamir.

This visit also confirms the urgent need for electricity to address the growing energy poverty in the region.

From the film "The Light Thief"

At the end of July 2011, ‘The Light Thief’ opened in London after several months of wrangling since its selection successes at the Cannes, Locarno, Berlin and the Toronto Film Festivals in 2010. The film is by award-winning Kyrgyz director Aktan Arym Kubat. This may be the first time you have heard of Kyrgyzstan or that it had a film industry at all – your mistake!

The plot follows ‘Mr Light’, an affable electrician in a remote village in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan. He aims to bring cheap wind power to his rural community but change comes when local magnate Bezkat offers to sell the locals’ land to a group of Chinese investors. Juxtaposing tradition and development, the film is a poetic and visually ravishing allegory of life in post-Soviet central Asia. This precis doesn’t really convey the unusual and un-westernised mood of the film, which will make demands of an audience not cogniscent with goats, yurts and the Kyrgyz taste in traditional headgear (the ‘Kalpak’). Whilst the geography and culture are radically different from the UK, the issues of introducing new technologies to communities and administrations are decidedly familiar for those involved in introducing renewable energy initiatives.

For more information on wind power in Kyrgyzstan click here…