Construction of a power line of 500 kilovolts is under consideration for ensuring the electricity supply from Turkmenistan to Pakistan.
The route of the new electricity grid will run in parallel to the route of Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline.
Moreover, work is underway on constructing Mary – Sarakhs – Mashhad (Turkmenistan-Iran) overhead power transmission line of 500-400 kilovolts in order to increase Turkmenistan’s electricity export. It is also planned to construct Balkanabad – Gonbad (Turkmenistan – Iran) overhead power line of 400 kilovolts for this purpose. Construction of overhead power lines will pave way for implementation of the program for electricity export to Iran and Turkey through Iran’s power supply system.
In future, it is planned to unite Turkmenistan’s power centers in a single ring circuit with overhead power lines of 500 kilovolts.
Implementation of these plans will create favorable conditions for ensuring the energy security, strengthening Turkmenistan’s position on the global energy market and will give a strong impetus to the country’s economic growth.
Turkmenistan generated 22.5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2015 and exported 3.2 billion kilowatt-hours of this volume to Afghanistan and Iran.
The country plans to increase the volume of electricity production to 27.4 billion kilowatt-hours by 2020 and 35.5 billion kilowatt-hours by 2030. (Trend/Business World Magazine)