Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS) has announced that a contract for the purchase of electricity from Uzbekistan has been signed for the year 2025.

This agreement was signed following a visit by an Islamic Emirate delegation, led by DABS CEO Abdul Bari Omari to Tashkent, where they engaged in discussions with Uzbek officials.

“The General Director of Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat, along with a delegation, traveled to Uzbekistan and signed the electricity purchase agreement for 2025 during a meeting with officials from the Uzbek electricity sector,” said DABS spokesman Hekmatullah Maiwandi.

Meanwhile, some investors have urged IEA to engage with Uzbekistan regarding the 500-kilovolt electricity project and to ensure the swift completion of this project.

Once completed, the project is expected to alleviate some of the electricity shortages in the country.

Tajikistan agreement

Late last month, Tajikistan’s national electric power company, Barqi Tojik, and DABS signed a similar agreement, which will see Tajikistan supply Afghanistan with power through 2025.

The signing ceremony was attended by Mahmadumar Asozoda, General Director of Barqi Tojik, Omar.

According to Barqi Tojik’s press secretary, Kurbon Ahmadzoda, the agreement is expected to be extended annually until 2028.

However, the electricity export will reportedly be limited to the summer months, from May to September, and will be dependent on the availability of electricity within Tajikistan’s domestic market, Tajik media reported at the time.

Powering a future

Afghanistan currently produces only 20% of its energy needs, while 80% of its electricity is imported from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Iran.

The Islamic Emirate has however made it a priority to encourage domestic production of power since regaining control in August 2021.

Omar has met with potential investors on numerous occasions and has encouraged them to invest in the sector.

One such meeting was held in August with officials from Bayat Power.

Bayat Power is Afghanistan’s largest private Electric Power Production and Development Company and owns and operates Bayat Power-1, the first in a new generation of Gas to Electricity power generation plants.

Bayat Power is hoping to start work soon on Phase 2 of Bayat Power-1 in northern Jawzjan province in order to increase electricity production output for Afghanistan.

Mohammad Shoaib Sahibzada, the technical head of Bayat Power, has said that once Phase 2 is complete, electricity production will increase from 40 to 100 megawatts.

Sahibzada said Bayat Power’s natural gas to electricity generation project will eventually produce up to 250 megawatts of electricity once Phase 3 is complete.

Bayat Power has produced over one billion kilowatt hours of electricity in just under five years after starting commercial operations in late 2019.

Sahibzada said that over the past five years, the company has also worked on capacity building of its technical employees.

Leading the way

Bayat Power is the first private company in 40 years to produce electricity from natural gas in the country and the multi-million dollar plant uses Siemens Energy’s SGT-A45 mobile gas turbine for its economic efficiency, flexible deployment, and power density.

Currently providing electricity to hundreds of thousands of end-users and generating more than 300 million kWh annually, the project was structured as an innovative public-private partnership between Bayat Power, Siemens Energy, and Afghanistan government entities such as the

Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, the Ministry of Energy and Water, and the General Directorate of Afghan Gas Corporation Company, Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS), and international partners.

The Bayat Group is the largest private investor in Afghanistan and Bayat Power is currently the only gas-powered plant in the country.

The Siemens Energy’s SGT-A45 mobile gas turbine used by the company is the only one in operation in the world.