Kyrgyzstan’s Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers Adylbek Kasymaliyev last week met with World Bank Vice President for Europe and Central Asia Antonella Bassani in Washington, D.C. The meeting concluded with the signing of an agreement between Kyrgyzstan and the World Bank Group on the Regional Electricity Market Interconnectivity and Trade (REMIT) Program.
The World Bank’s 10-year REMIT Program is an ambitious initiative to establish Central Asia’s first regional electricity market. The program aims to enhance regional energy security, boost cross-border electricity trade, expand transmission capacity, promote a more resilient and interconnected grid system, and lay the foundation for large-scale renewable energy integration across the region.
The REMIT Program seeks to harness Central Asia’s diverse and complementary energy resources: hydropower in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, thermal power from coal and natural gas in Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, and the region’s rapidly expanding solar and wind potential.
Over the next decade, REMIT aims to increase regional electricity trade to at least 15,000 GWh annually, triple regional transmission capacity to 16 GW, and enable up to 9 GW of clean energy integration.
Total indicative financing for the program is $1.018 billion, to be deployed in three phases.
According to the Kyrgyz Ministry of Energy, participation in the program will help Kyrgyzstan to modernize its energy sector and integrate it into the unified energy market of Central Asia.
In the program’s first phase, Kyrgyzstan is receiving $40 million in funding for energy infrastructure development. The funds will be used for a complete modernization of the 220 kV Torobaev and 220 kV Kristall substations, whose equipment has been in operation for over 50 years and is obsolete. These substations supply electricity to several districts in the Jalal-Abad region. The project also includes the construction of a 220 kV Kristall-Yulduz transmission line to the border with Uzbekistan.
This will strengthen Kyrgyzstan’s cross-border connections and expand electricity transit and export capabilities, as well as improve the reliability of the country’s energy grid, especially during peak winter periods.
The next phases include the construction of 500 kV transmission lines, which will enable Kyrgyzstan to become a significant energy player in Central Asia.
REMIT offers significant opportunities for fully utilizing Kyrgyzstan’s hydropower potential, commissioning new generating capacity, and developing renewable energy sources. Furthermore, the project will attract investment, create new jobs, and directly impact the country’s economic growth.
Currently, the level of mutual electricity trade in Central Asia remains relatively low, and the REMIT program aims to boost this trade by creating the conditions for the formation of a unified energy space in the region. Ultimately, this initiative will not only strengthen Kyrgyzstan’s energy security but also lay a solid foundation for transforming the country into a regional energy hub.
