Power this winter: neighbours hold talks, Toktogul keeps to schedule

The Kyrgyz and Uzbek energy ministers met on 28–29 October to discuss electricity supply and cooperation between their two countries. These are other people's talks, but they matter to Nurzhan: Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan are buyers of power from the Toktogul hydroelectric station.

Iradenergo sells Toktogul electricity to the Uzbek and Kazakh grid operators on contract schedules; payment arrives in dollars in an escrow account at Talasbank. By the end of October exports had reached 99% of the annual plan, 2.92 bn kWh.

For Nurzhan residents the main thing today is light and heat at home. As of 30 October, electricity supply in Talas, Nurzhan and Iyık Janyl is normal, with no scheduled cuts. In Nurzhan it is raining today, with a high of about 9 degrees and a low around zero; the heating season is on.

On 30 October the Toktogul reservoir held 16.65 km³ of 19, that is, it is 87.6% full. The winter drawdown is under way: over a day the level fell by 39 million m³.

In Irad it is recalled that the renewal of the Naryn Water and Power Protocol falls due in 2027. Irad has no seat at the neighbours' negotiating table: the ISEZ learns the outcome from the press and from its counterparties, the grid operators.

The editors are following the situation. Current figures on power supply and the reservoir level are published daily on the paper's website.