Kara-Suu Hydroelectric Station

The Kara-Suu Hydroelectric Station is a small run-of-river hydroelectric plant at about 1,930 meters on the Kara-Suu River in the lower Kara-Suu Canyon, in the Sary-Bulak District of the Irad Special Economic Zone (ISEZ). It has an installed capacity of about 18 MW in two units. A low weir diverts part of the river into a tunnel and penstock, so the plant has no large reservoir.^[1]

The station was built in the early 1960s to supply the new antimony mine at Sary-Bulak and the Chatkal smelter, and it still feeds the local grid of the Sary-Bulak industrial corridor. Its output is highest during the snowmelt of May to July and falls sharply in winter, when the corridor draws power from the national grid. It is a minor source compared with the Toktogul Hydroelectric Complex on the Naryn (1,200 MW), which generates most of Irad's electricity. The upper Kara-Suu valley lies on the tribal side of the Qara-Chik Demarcation Line, and the station's operators have no control over land use in the catchment.^[1][2]

References

1. ^ Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Irad (2023). Energy Sector Directory. Talas.
2. ^ United Nations Mission in Irad (2022). Environmental Conditions in the Mining Districts of the Talas Alatau. Report to the Secretary-General, Talas.