The Kyrgyz government has signed an investment agreement to construct small-scale hydropower plants in the Chuy region as part of a strategy to decentralize the national power system. The project, led by the private company Sokuluk HPP-3, involves building generating facilities on the Sokuluk River and its tributaries to support one of the country’s primary agricultural and industrial zones.
The first phase requires an investment of 1.5 billion soms – approximately $17 million – for the construction of the Sokuluk HPP-3 and Tuyuk HPP stations. These facilities, signed for by National Investment Agency head Ravshanbek Sabirov and Sokuluk HPP-3 director Nurbek Chiltenov, will provide a combined capacity of 15.6 megawatts. Although the output will not resolve the country’s broader energy deficit, it is intended to stabilize the local grid in the Sokuluk district.
Kyrgyzstan often faces power shortages during the winter months when water levels in major reservoirs drop, limiting the output of large-scale plants. To address this, the government is encouraging private investment in smaller projects to reduce the load on the national transmission network.
The project may expand to include additional stations on the Akpay and Ashutor rivers if technical studies confirm their feasibility. Such an expansion would bring the total capacity of the hydropower cluster to 21 megawatts, with total direct investment exceeding 2.3 billion soms.
