Guess I'd better start up my summer blog. I hope to return with our program to Kazan this summer. So far the political situation seems like it will allow us to do so. I'll update here anytime something significant goes on.
]]>Last year our program started on June 23. At that time the ruble exchange rate was 34 rubles to the dollar. As of this writing the rate is 46.6 rubles to the dollar, a fall of 27%. Pretty tough on the Russian people. I worry about my friends in Kazan.
]]>Damn. Now I begin to doubt our summer program will take place in Russia.
Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30025138 (mirror)
]]>It's January 1st, 2015, and so far it looks like our program will take place in Kazan. The budget looks good. The international politics have not significantly worsened, although Putin himself has become increasingly authoritarian. Kazan, here I come!
]]>I'm quite bummed: we will not be returning to Kazan this summer. Essentially what happened was that there were an insufficient number of student applications to financially justify the program. One reason that there were fewer applications is that fewer government funds can be used in Russia this year due to the political situation. So although we are not politically forbidden to go to Russia, nonetheless the political situation has taken its toll.
Our program in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, will take place, and all students who had applied to the Kazan program will have the option to go to Bishkek instead. I will be the resident director in Bishkek. Soon I'll start posting some info about that.
]]>Pretty well everyone speaks Russian in Bishkek, so it's a good place to have a Russian language program, but the Kyrgyz also speak... are you braced for it?... Kyrgyz! Kyrgyz is a Turkic language, related to Tatar, Uzbek, Turkmen and Turkish. I've download three textbooks to start getting a feel for the language. Thank you, Foreign Service Institute, for making such things available. I probably will not have time to make myself competent in the language, but at least I will have an idea of what it is like.
]]>Kyrgyzstan on the brink of energy crisis
Times of Central Asia, The (Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan) - February 14, 2015
Written by Maria Levina
BISHKEK (TCA) — The situation in the energy system of Kyrgyzstan is difficult due to the failure of a transformer unit at the Toktogul hydropower plant (HPP), which led to a 300 MW decrease in the power plant’s total capacity of 1,200 MW.
According to the Ministry of Energy and Industry of Kyrgyzstan, the power capacity will continue to decline because of declining water levels in the Toktogul reservoir. By the end of February or in early March the HPP capacity may fall below 700 MW, which is almost twofold decrease.
Last year was very difficult for Kyrgyzstan’s energy sector. During the growing season, the volume of water inflow into the reservoir was about 7.2 billion compared to 8.8 billion cubic meters in 2013.
Growth in electricity consumption, water shortage and failure to comply with the limits of electricity consumption have led to an increase in electricity generation at the Toktogul HPP and increased water consumption. On January 1, 2015 there was 9.2 billion cubic meters of water in the Toktogul reservoir, and on February 10 — 7.7 billion cubic meters, a 32% decrease compared to this day in 2014.
Kyrgyzstan buys electricity in Kazakhstan to make up for the shortage, Kyrgyz Deputy Prime Minister Valery Dill said. This measure is necessary to save the water in the Toktogul reservoir.
At the same time, the Bishkek thermal electric power plant (TEP) is operating at full capacity of 360 megawatts.
The current situation has forced the Government to think about increasing the country’s power generating capacity. The total available capacity (about 14 billion kilowatt-hours per year) does not satisfy the economy. In recent years, domestic electricity consumption grew by 10% per year. Earlier, Kyrgyzstan exported electricity but now the country has to import it.
Savings
Due to the warm winter, Kyrgyzstan has managed to save electricity this year. In January Bishkek consumed 335.9 million kWh of electricity with the planned 373.2 million kWh. Last month consumers in the Chui oblast saved 14.5% of the electricity and in the Talas oblast - 18.4%.
According to the Energy Ministry, the number of outages has decreased by 6.6% in 2014 compared to 2013. In Bishkek, the number of accidents in electricity networks has decreased by 16%.
No changes
To develop the economy, it is necessary to build new generating facilities and reform the energy sector, said Dill.
The population sees no real progress in the construction of large hydro and thermal power plants as well as in modernization of the Bishkek TEP, Energy Minister Kubanichbek Turdubayev said.
A lot of criticism comes to the ministry about Kambar-Ata-1 and Kambar-Ata-2 HPP projects, as well as about the Upper Naryn HPP cascade, because people see no results.
Upper Naryn HPPs
According to the Upper Naryn HPPs JSC, 2.8 billion rubles will be spent for the construction of the Upper Naryn HPPs cascade in 2015. Construction of two plants for concrete production will start in March. A power line and a 35 kilometer road will also be constructed.
At the public hearing in Naryn, Russia’s RusHydro representatives said that construction of the Upper Naryn cascade will not harm the environment. The plan provides for a minimum area of flooding. Permanent sanitary control of water flows through the dam will be conducted during construction works, and after the completion the land will be reclaimed.
The Upper Naryn HPPs JSC is a direct operator of the construction of the Upper Naryn HPPs cascade. Shareholding in the company is divided between the RusHydro JSC (Russia) and the Power Plants JSC (Kyrgyzstan).
Small hydropower plants
The Government, in the long-term perspective, is going to increase power generation mainly due to construction of large HPPs and reconstruction of the TEPs in Bishkek and Osh. In the short and medium perspective, construction of small hydropower plants could help cope with the energy crisis in Kyrgyzstan.
Investors are ready to invest in small HPPs if the Government supports them through improved legislation and a favorable investment climate. The Korean Economic Development Fund is ready to invest more than $100 million in this sector.
Problems hindering the development of small hydropower energy in Kyrgyzstan include the lack of investment guarantees and strategic and long-term vision by the local authorities, and the lack of awareness of the population about the benefits of small HPPs.
Tariffs
Increase in electricity tariffs is inevitable, experts say. Obsolete equipment requires updating. Prices for it are rising, and funding from the state budget is not enough.
Kyrgyzstan has the lowest electricity tariffs in the world. If they rise, people will start saving electricity.
Copyright © The Times Of central Asia. All Rights Reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. ( Syndigate.info).
]]>Kirgizstan is the most liberal and democratic of the Central Asian states, but a significant number of the population still has fairly negative views towards gay people. The law proposes making it illegal to present gay relationships in a positive light. This kind of thought control is of course antithetical to critical thinking. Generally speaking, in a world where bit by bit we all progress towards wiser and more moral conduct, the free exchange of ideas is absolutely necessary. I'm of the opinion that as ideas are freely discussed, we bit by bit approach more rational and moral behavior, whereas forbidding a thought prevents the maturation of the planetary mind.
(mirror)
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