Energy Security of Hydropower Producing Countries—The Cases of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan

Abstract

Energy security, as one of the most important components of state security, is a permanent element of academic debates and political discussions. Owing to the multidimensional and multifaceted nature of energy security, defining it is a complex process, requiring the consideration of a wide range of factors straddling economics, geology, ecology and geopolitics which decide whether we are dealing with the state of energy security or the lack of it. Energy security is usually equated with the security of supply. Another group of definitions of energy security focuses on the concept of security of services. A different approach to energy security issues is presented by energy exporting countries, whose objective is to ensure sufficiently high and stable income from sales of energy resource exports (security of demand). The subject of this paper is an analysis of the energy security of hydropower-producing countries—Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Energy security has been analyzed in the context of security of supply, services, and demand on the basis of the approach proposed by Llamosas and Sovacool. So far, no work has been carried out to analyse the hydropower sectors of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in the context of the energy security comparison of both countries. It is worth emphasising that their energy security and mutual relations are important from the point of view of the stability of the entire Central Asian region. Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have large hydropower potential, which, if properly used, could cover their domestic electricity demand and the surplus can be exported to neighbouring countries. Unfortunately, both countries are not utilising this potential for the time being. The main difficulty in the area of security of supply and services is the seasonality and low reliability of electricity supplies. Among the reasons for this are the poor technical and economic conditions of energy companies as a result of maintaining low tariffs, the irrecoverability of consumers’ energy bills, electricity theft, significant transmission loses and a high level of corruption. Although both countries aspire to the role of an energy exporters, they are themselves forced to import electricity from neighboring countries.