Power blackout hits Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan

On November 7, 2021, a high-voltage power line pylon can be seen next to the GRES-1 coal-fired power plant outside the town of Ekibastuz in Kazakhstan. REUTERS / Pavel Mikheyev / File Photo

Almaty, January 25 (Reuters)-Central Asian countries in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan suffered power outages in major cities on Tuesday after the main power lines in Kazakhstan were cut off.

The grids of the three former Soviet Republics are interconnected and linked to the Russian power grid via Kazakhstan and can be used to make up for unexpected shortages.

However, Kazakhstan’s North-South power lines, which connect the densely populated southern part of Kazakhstan and its two adjacent power plants to the main power plants in northern Kazakhstan and the Russian network, said on Tuesday morning the “emergency emergency” in the Central Asian part of the grid. Disconnected due to “imbalance”. Grid operator KEGOC said.

Power outages have caused turmoil throughout the region for hours, subway trains stop in tunnels, skiers board lifts, airports are closed, district heating and tap water pumps are idle, and signals are turned off. I did.

None of the three countries reported power plant problems that could have caused the imbalance.

According to a document released online by one of the local miners, Kazakhstan, which had previously experienced a power shortage due to the influx of cryptocurrency miners, began to cut off its power supply on a regular basis, January 24. I did that from day to month.

Suspensions have been reported in Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty, and in several major southern cities near the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border. The airport in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, has temporarily stopped accepting flights.

Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan officials said the power plant was restarted after an emergency outage and initially remained disconnected from the Central Asian power grid.

Report by Olzhas Auyezov; Additional report by Mukhammadsharif Mamatkulov in Tashkent and Olga Dzyubenko in Bishkek Edited by Jason Neely and Mark Potter

Our criteria: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.