Central Asia South Asia Electricity Transmission and Trade Project (CASA-1000)

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The development objective of the 1000 Electricity Transmission and Trade Project for Central Asia and South Asia (CASA) is to create the conditions for sustainable electricity trade between the Central Asian countries of Tajikistan and Kyrgyz Republic and the South Asian countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. The project has three components. The first component, construction of high voltage transmission infrastructure comprises of following four sub-components: (i) high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission line which will have a transmission capacity of 1,300 megawatt (MW) in either direction, using a bipolar and earth-return configuration and consists mainly of self-supported lattice tower structures, conductors, and insulators; (ii) HVDC converter stations include specialized converter transformers, breakers, filtering equipment, inverters, controls, ground electrodes, and static and dynamic compensation equipment; (iii) high voltage AC transmission (HVAC) interconnection between the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan; and (iv) Tajikistan grid reinforcement will include the construction of about 115 kilometer (km) of 500 kilovolt (kV) line from Regar substation (s/s) to Sangtuda s/s and other parts of the network necessary, along with associated s/s equipment to ensure transfer of Tajik and Kyrgyz export power to the Sangtuda converter station. The second component, technical assistance and project implementation support will finance the support for project implementation and technical assistance (TA) required to the four country-specific project implementing agencies as well as for the Inter-Governmental Council (IGC) and IGC Secretariat. It comprises of following seven sub-components: (i) HVDC and HVAC owner's engineers; (ii) environment and social management support; (iii) audits, financial, and revenue management; (iv) project management support; (v) coordination; (vi) project communications; and (vii) capacity building. The third component, community support programs will develop and implement community support programs (CSPs) in each of the CASA-1000 countries during the project's construction period to create a more supportive environment for project implementation by improving livelihoods among the approximately 670 (largely poor) communities living along the CASA-1000 corridor.