VITAL POWER INFRASTRUCTURE EFFORTS RESULT IN INCREASED AVAILABILITY OF ELECTRICITY THROUGHOUT AFGHANISTAN

Kabul, Afghanistan, September 26, 2011 – Significant infrastructure developments continue to provide an increasing and reliable source of electric power throughout Afghanistan, according to Abdul Razique Samadi, Chief Executive Officer of Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS), the national electricity company responsible for the country-wide production, transmission and distribution of electricity nationwide.

During a late-August tour of the Tarakhil Power Plant and the National Load Control Center (NLCC) near Kabul, Mr. Samadi said that the amount of revenue generated has doubled as a result of a collaborative effort among DABS, the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIROA), and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which provided major funding for projects.

“The Tarakhil Power Plant and the NLCC are very important for ensuring that ample and reliable energy supplies are available for homes and businesses,” Mr. Samadi said. “The training being provided at these facilities for employees of DABS is also ensuring that our country will effectively sustain these operations for many years to come.”

The Tarakhil Power Plant adds 105-megawatts of power generating capacity to serve Kabul and the surrounding region. The plant is a critical part of a mix of needed energy resources that also include hydro power and purchased import power. Tarakhil was turned over to DABS in June 2010 by USAID and has generated as much as 96 megawatts of power. The plant also provided needed electricity following an outage on a 220-kilovolt power transmission line from Uzbekistan. The Tarakhil Power Plant has created 100 full-time jobs for employees of DABS.

The National Load Control Center is part of a series of projects to interconnect power distribution in the northeastern areas of Afghanistan. The Northeast Power System (NEPS) is undergoing a significant expansion and upgrade that includes plans to receive up to 900 megawatts of imported power from Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. The NLCC will provide central control for power dispatch and operation for NEPS.

The Tarakhil Power Plant and NLCC are projects funded by USAID and constructed by Black & Veatch as part of the Louis Berger Group/ Black & Veatch Joint Venture. Mr. Samadi was accompanied on the NLCC demonstration and Tarakhil Power Plant tour by Dr. Ken Yamashita, USAID Mission Director in Afghanistan, Dr. Rajiv Shah, Administrator of USAID, Ryan Crocker, U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan; His

Excellency Ismail Khan, Afghanistan Minister of Energy and Water; and His Excellency Dr. Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal, Afghanistan Minister of Finance.

“Considerable growth of industrial, commercial and residential electric needs in the Kabul region is projected over the next years,” said Mr. Samadi. “With the NLCC, DABS will be able to monitor data and control the various elements within the substations and power stations for the NEPS transmission system and Tarakhil power plant, providing electric power to more than 600,000 homes and businesses. The Louis Berger Group/ Black & Veatch Joint Venture is helping ensure the sustainability of these projects by imparting its technical knowledge to DABS.”

This summer, DABS benefited from system enhancements as part of USAID’s Reactive Power Compensation (RPC) Project, when capacitor banks at the Chemtala Substation and Kabul North Substation were tested and energized at sites located near the northern boundary of Kabul. Also commissioned and energized recently were the new reactor banks at the Naibabad Substation near Mazar-e-Sharif in the northern province of Balkh. These enhancements reduce overall operating and import line power losses, improving the economy of operation and system stability of the country’s generation and transmission system.

The enhancements included the connection of four capacitor banks and three reactors that increased the capability of the 220-kilovolt transmission system that plays a key role in the transmission of imported power. The fourth and final segment of the RPC program will culminate in the commissioning and energizing of the three capacitor banks at the Puli-e-Khumri Substation in the

very near future.  This will complete the successful program for adding reactive power compensation to the NEPS of Afghanistan.

In addition to electric infrastructure development in northern Afghanistan, efforts are underway to improve the Southeast Power System (SEPS), which is the significant source of electricity in southern Afghanistan, serving 380,000 of the 1.7 million people residing in the region.

According to Mr. Samaidi, the Kandahar Hilmand Power (KHP) efforts in southern Afghanistan, funded by USAID in cooperation with DABS, will fuel economic growth that is not currently possible as residents face electrical supply shortfalls. Kandahar City alone has a shortfall of 20 to 25 megawatts for its 450,000 residents while elsewhere in Kandahar and Hilmand provinces, there is no electric service available.

Projects in the southern region include increased generating capacity and upgrades to the transmission substations that are the backbone for electrical transmission and build on previous work done by USAID and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.