Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Uzbekistan, as well as Thermal Electric Networks JSC and Navoi TPP JSC, organized a press tour for foreign and domestic media to familiarize themselves with the activities of the electric power industry in Uzbekistan. A press tour for journalists took place 7 km from the city of Navoi in Uzbekistan.

Journalists visited the object of the Ministry of Energy, Navoi TPP, a thermal power station is the main source of electricity and heat supply to the region, which is one of the most industrialized regions of the country, as well as consumers of neighboring territories.

The construction of the power plant was started in 1960 on the left bank of the Zarafshan River as part of the Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Combine. The first power unit of the Navoi state district power station was launched in 1963. Initially, the station was part of the NMMC, but in 1965 it was transferred to the Ministry of Energy of Uzbekistan. In 2004, the Navoi TPP was transformed into the Navoi TPP JSC.

Navoi TPP provides electricity to the leading industrial enterprises in the region - mining metallurgy, energy, chemical, food, construction industry. The largest industrial enterprises are NMMC, AO Navoiazot, AO Navoi TPP, AO Kyzylkumcement, AO Electrochemistry and other enterprises including consumers of large-sized pumping stations for agricultural irrigation.

The station consists of 11 power units with capacities from 50 megawatts to 420 megawatts, currently obsolete power units are removed from the generating capacities.

In 2009, the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan set the task of modernizing and reconstructing the station’s capacities, which was divided into 3 stages. The first stage was implemented in 2009-2012, the second in 2017-2019, the implementation of the third stage is scheduled for 2019-2023.

At the first stage of modernization and reconstruction of the Navoi TPP in 2012, the first combined cycle gas turbine unit (CCGT-1) with a capacity of 478 MW was commissioned in the republic. After the commissioning of CCGT-1, the capacity of the station was 1618 megawatts, before it was 1250 megawatts. As a result of the commissioning of CCGT-1, the annual saving of natural gas at the station amounted to about 350-400 million cubic meters a year, and for the period from 2013 to 2018 about 2.3 billion cubic meters in the amount of 1 trillion. soums. A consortium of Çalik Energi (Turkey) and Initec energia (Spain) were selected as the project executor.

At the second stage, between the consortium of Japanese companies “Mitsubishi Corporation” and “Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems” and the joint stock company “Uzbekenergo” an agreement was signed on the construction of a combined-cycle plant with a capacity of 450 megawatts and a cost of 448 million dollars.

The project was implemented by a consortium of Mitsubishi Corporation and MHPS and the Turkish company Calik Energi. In 2017, during a trip to the Navoi region, Shavkat Mirziyoyev laid the capsule for the construction of the second combined-cycle plant (CCGT-2).

As a result of putting into operation a combined cycle plant, 3 billion 454 million kilowatt-hours of electric and thermal energy will be generated per year. According to calculations, by reducing the equivalent fuel consumption required for the production of 1 kilowatt-hour of electricity, savings of up to 500 million cubic meters of natural gas will be achieved, and 112 jobs will be created. One of the features of this project is that on a capacitor

For the first time in Uzbekistan, a steam turbine used air cooling together with water, which is a very important factor in irrigated agriculture in the republic, where every cubic meter of water is counted. Note that the efficiency of traditional plants is about 30%, for the first combined-cycle plant of Navoi TPP this indicator is 55%, for the second - 58%. In September 2019, CCGT-2 was launched in test mode.

At the 3rd stage in the period 2019-2023, further expansion of the station is expected, with the construction of the third and fourth projects of combined cycle plants. The implementation of the next projects is connected with the further development of NMMC production capacities in the coming years, the development of new deposits in Kyzylkum, it is planned to create up to 30 thousand jobs, with the advent of new cities and the development of their own infrastructure.

For the training of personnel on the basis of Navoi TPP JSC, a training center was organized to train personnel for the TPP power system. The training center was organized with financial and technical assistance from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). At the end of 2018, 14 instructors who completed a full course of training in 12 areas - JICA experts were awarded certificates giving them the right to teach.

JICA also supplied training and laboratory equipment in the amount of 7 billion soums: models of a gas and steam turbine, electrical and heat-mechanical equipment, samples of instrumentation and automation equipment, metal diagnostics and control devices, simulator-computer equipment for acquisition and strengthening practical skills of personnel simulating up to 200 emergency situations arising from the operation of combined cycle plants.