The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has cleared a US$500m loan to the National Power Grid Strengthening Project, which will support the reinforcement of Turkmenistan’s transmission network. The funds will help improve the reliability of the domestic power supply and increase power exports to neighbouring countries such as Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. It will also enable Turkmenistan to boost the volume of current electricity exports to Afghanistan.
The National Power Grid Strengthening Project covers four of Turkmenistan's five regions and will add 1,100 km of new 110 kV, 220 kV, and 500 kV power transmission lines. Once completed, the project will help set up an interconnected national transmission grid to improve reliability and energy efficiency of the network. The project is slated for completion by the end of 2023 and will cost US$675m, of which US$175m will be provided by the state-run utility Turkmenenergo.