Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic – A kick-off meeting “Conducting a Pre-Feasibility Study – the First Step to Develop Small Hydropower Projects” was held in Bishkek and gathered the national and international experts. The meeting was organised jointly by the Ministry of Energy of the Kyrgyz Republic, the Green Energy Fund under the Cabinet of Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic, and the European Union (EU) funded SECCA project.
As part of the Kyrgyz Government’s plans to develop renewable energy sources, the country is re-discovering small hydropower (SHP). The government and private investors are building small hydropower plants (SHPP) across the country.
In December 2023, SECCA agreed with the Green Energy Fund to develop a model pre-feasibility study for a SHPP. For that, SECCA has set up a SHP team consisting of international and national experts. A pre-feasibility study is an important and integral part of SHP development. It is an early stage analysis to identify sites with enough hydraulic and economic potential. If the pre-feasibility study shows a positive base-case scenario, the investor will likely move on to the next stage, an in-depth feasibility study.
At the kick-off meeting, the representatives of SECCA presented their latest activities and plans in the field of SHP development. The experts considered the experience of the EU, the Kyrgyz Republic, and other Central Asian countries. The SHP team members presented their plans for the pre-feasibility study.
Background information:
Starting from May 2023, the SECCA project has been providing technical support to the Ministry of Energy and the Green Energy Fund of the Kyrgyz Republic in development of renewable energy sources (RES). The necessary steps to be taken from RES policy development to project implementation were first introduced in one of the sessions of the Conference held within the First EU–Kyrgyzstan Sustainable Energy Days campaign; while practical aspects of small-scale RES development with a focus on small hydropower, through state-owned specialized Funds were presented in October 2023, at a technical workshop held in Bishkek. In November 2023, with the SECCA project’s support, the Kyrgyz Green Energy Fund signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Georgian Energy Development Fund (GEDF). In December 2023, SECCA and the Green Energy Fund agreed to develop a model pre-feasibility study for a SHPP. In February 2024, the Karakol-1 SHPP was pre-selected for the pre-feasibility study.
