Electricite de France (EDF) and PricewaterhouseCoopers of the United States were declared winning bidders for an investment study of the completion of two hydroelectric projects totaling 2,260 MW on Kyrgyzstan’s Naryn River.
With a bid of 73.8 million Russian rubles (US$3 million), EDF and PricewaterhouseCoopers were chosen over competitors Mott MacDonald of the United Kingdom and SNC Lavalin International Inc. of Canada.
The tender organizer, Russian electricity import and export utility JSC Inter RAO UES, made the announcement on behalf of its development partners OJSC Elektricheskiye Stantsii of Kyrgyzstan and JSC KazKuat of Kazakhstan. Inter RAO UES said the contract is to be signed in early 2008.
Construction began in 1986 on the two Soviet-era hydro stations, 1,900-MW Kambarata 1 and 240- to 360-MW Kambarata 2. Work halted when the Soviet Union collapsed.
As tender organizer, Inter RAO UES is representing its parent, Russian utility Unified Energy Systems, which said in 2004 it planned to invest US$2 billion in the two hydroelectric projects, with a view to exporting the power.
Kyrgyzstan produces 13 billion kWh of hydroelectricity a year — less than a tenth of its potential, according to Kyrgyz government estimates. It exports some power to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.
Upon completion, Kambarata 1 and 2 would generate an additional 6.1 billion kWh a year.
