The Asian Development Bank is to provide its largest ever grant to Tajikistan to fund refurbishment and increase power capacity at the 240MW Golovnaya hydroelectric project.
The $136M grant will be used to refurbish electric and mechanical equipment for power generation and transmission at the project – the fourth largest hydropower plant in the country. The Government of Tajikistan will provide counterpart funding of $34M.
It is expected that after rehabilitation, which is due for completion in 2020, the generation capacity of the project will increase from 240MW to 252MW. On average, it will be able to produce 1130GWh/yr from 743GWh generated in 2012.
Construction of the Golovnaya project started in 1956, and the first unit was commissioned in 1962.