Uzbekistan

Uzbek villagers find a place in the sun

Villagers in over 1,000 rural communities in Uzbekistan live without electricity, unconnected to the central power grid and with little prospect of being hooked up in future due to high investment costs. Renewable energy sources such as solar power are the best hope for these remote settlements.

Such alternatives have remained largely untapped, but UNDP Uzbekistan is working to help the country take better advantage of this potential.

The energy situation is especially acute in Karakalpakstan, the country's biggest region which has also been hard-hit by the Aral Sea ecocatastrophe. Lacking electricity to generate light and heat or pump well water, residents are forced to rely on expensive and polluting alternatives such as coal, kerosene and diesel fuel, or to burn wood gathered from local forests, which has contributed to deforestation and further land degradation. In addition to burdening an already fragile environment, these practices negatively impact the health of the region's impoverished residents.

So UNDP established the Clean Energy for Remote Rural Communities in Karakalpakstan Project to enable villagers to harness the power of the sun. With $90,000 from UNDP's Energy Thematic Trust Fund, the project financed the domestic production of 25 photovoltaic (PV) systems that were installed, with the help of the regional government and local authorities, in Kostruba and Koibak, two remote settlements in northern Karalpakstan. Instruction manuals in the Karakalpak language were produced, and some residents with technical know-how received further training in PV systems maintenance.

In Kostruba, a rural settlement of 35 families that has suffered high out-migration, the installation of PV systems, which among other improvements allowed villagers to scrap oil lamps that burned diesel fuel, resulted in the reduction of pollution emissions by 36.8 tonnes per year. Solar water pumps replaced old, polluting water pumps powered by petrol engines on Koibak farms, bringing down annual pollution emissions by 21.4 tonnes.

"This project tackles issues at two different levels - raising the living standards of people at the local level, and at the same time, we are addressing the issue of climate change at the global level," said Anvar Nasritdinov, head of the environment and energy unit for UNDP Uzbekistan.

Mr. Nasritdinov underscored the significant human development impact that something as simple as a reliable and clean energy source can have.

"When a villager or shepherd in the remote area of Karakalpakstan is able to turn on the light in his house, this opens up a window of opportunities," he said. "Children can do their homework and women can produce handicrafts. People can read books at night, watch TV and listen to the radio."

The project was recently extended to cover all the households in Kostruba, and UNDP helped local authorities secure the assistance of major donors including the Turkish Technical Assistance Agency (TIKA), the Government of Germany, and the National Trust Fund "Saving the Aral Sea Region Genofund".

The second phase of the project envisages the establishment of a renewable energy (RE) centre in Karakalpakstan, which will promote development of RE technologies and assist in the establishment of local enterprises in this field.

UNDP Uzbekistan is actively promoting renewable energy development by implementing additional projects on "know-how" transfer and domestic production of solar panels for electricity generation and water pre-heating through local companies.

 

For further information, please contact:

Nigina Baykabulova
UNDPI Information Assistant
UNDP Uzbekistan
+99871 1203 483
nigina.baykabulova@undp.org

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