Uzbekistan’s electricity demand declines in 2022 – IEA

Uzbekistan’s electricity demand decreased by an estimated 1 percent in 2022, latest electricity market update from the International Energy Agency (IEA) reports.

According to the report, Uzbekistan is the Eurasia region’s third largest electricity consumer, and its electricity demand rose by 7 percent (+4.1 TWh) in 2021.

Furthermore, the report notes that Uzbekistan continues to suffer from electricity supply cuts due to natural gas supply shortages for power plants. In this regard, Uzbekistan put into operation additional six thermal power plants with a combined capacity of 1.4 GW and one solar power generation complex with a capacity of 100 MW during 11M2022.

"Natural gas output fell by 4 percent (-2 bcm) year-on-year in 2022 due to aging fields with rapidly deteriorating production rates. As of the middle of November 2022, Uzbekistan stopped natural gas exports, with officials suggesting a supply-demand gap of 20 mcm/d in the country," the report says.

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Earlier in January, Uzbekistan had a problem with the light provided to the country’s Surkhandarya region. In this regard, Uzbekistan decided to increase the volume of electricity imports from Tajikistan to provide light to the Surkhandarya region. Some 220 kV of electricity was supplied to Uzbekistan's Surkhandarya region from the Tajik "Regar-500" substation through the L-Regar-Zarchop and L-Regar-Sherabad lines.