![Jalalabad dam](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Jalalabad_dam.jpg)
Energy in Afghanistan is provided by
hydropower
Hydropower (from el, ὕδωρ, "water"), also known as water power, is the use of falling or fast-running water to Electricity generation, produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by energy transformation, converting the Pot ...
followed by
fossil fuel
A fossil fuel is a hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the remains of dead plants and animals that is extracted and burned as a fuel. The main fossil fuels are coal, oil, and natural gas. Fossil fuels m ...
and
solar power
Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic e ...
.
According to
Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS), approximately 35% of
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
's
population
Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...
has access to electricity.
This covers the major
cities
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
in the country. Many rural areas do not have access to 24-hour electricity but this should change after the major
CASA-1000
The Central Asia-South Asia power project, commonly known by the acronym CASA-1000, is a $1.16 billion project currently under construction that will allow for the export of surplus hydroelectricity from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to Afghanistan an ...
project is completed.
Afghanistan currently generates over 600 megawatts (
MW) of electricity from its several
hydroelectric plants
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...
as well as using fossil fuel and
solar panel
A solar cell panel, solar electric panel, photo-voltaic (PV) module, PV panel or solar panel is an assembly of photovoltaic solar cells mounted in a (usually rectangular) frame, and a neatly organised collection of PV panels is called a photo ...
s.
Over 670 MW more is imported from neighboring Iran, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
Due to the large influx of
expats
An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. In common usage, the term often refers to educated professionals, skilled workers, or artists taking positions outside their home country, either ...
from neighboring
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
and
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
, Afghanistan may require as much as 7,000 MW of electricity in the coming years. The Afghan National Development Strategy has identified
alternative energy
Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a Orders of magnitude (time), human timescale. It includes sources such as Solar power, sunlight, wind power, wind, the movement of Hydropo ...
, such as
wind
Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few hou ...
and
solar energy
Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the Sun that is harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar power to generate electricity, solar thermal energy (including solar water heating), and solar architecture. It is an essenti ...
, as a high value power source to develop.
As a result, a number of solar and
wind farm
A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used Wind power, to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundre ...
s have been established,
with more currently under development.
Hydroelectricity
Afghanistan has the potential to produce over 23,000 MW of hydroelectricity.[ A number of hydroelectric plants were built between the 1950s and the mid-1970s, which included the Naghlu in the Sarobi District of ]Kabul Province
Kabul (Persian: ), situated in the east of the country, is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. The capital of the province is Kabul city, which is also Afghanistan's capital and largest city. The population of the Kabul Province is ...
and the Kajaki
Kajaki is a village in southern Afghanistan, and is split between two townsteads, Kajaki 'Olya, and Kajaki Sofla. It is the district centre of Kajaki District in Helmand Province. North east of the village is an important hydro power station fo ...
in Helmand Province
Helmand (Pashto/Dari: ; ), also known as Hillmand, in ancient times, as Hermand and Hethumand, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan
Afghanistan is divided into 34 provinces (, '' wilåyat''). The provinces of Afghanistan are the primar ...
.
Southern Afghanistan has been lacking adequate electricity due to problems with the Kajaki power plant in Helmand, which has been damaged and neglected for many years. A third generating turbine
A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced by a turbine can be used for generating e ...
was recently added. This added 16.5 MW to its generating capacity and eventually provide the southern Afghan cities of Kandahar
Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a List of cities in Afghanistan, city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population ...
and Lashkar Gah
Lashkargāh ( ps, لښکرګاه; fa, لشکرگاه), historically called Bost or Boost (), is a city in southwestern Afghanistan and the capital of Helmand Province. It is located in Lashkargah District, where the Arghandab River merges into ...
with around 10-hour electricity per day. The Afghan-India Friendship Dam
Afghan-India Friendship Dam (AIFD), formerly Salma Dam, is a hydroelectric and irrigation dam project located on the Hari River in Chishti Sharif District of Herat Province in western Afghanistan. Since this project is funded and constructed by ...
in Herat Province
Herat (Persian: ) is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the north-western part of the country. Together with Badghis, Farah, and Ghor provinces, it makes up the north-western region of Afghanistan. Its primary city and ...
, which produces 42 MW of electricity, was inaugurated in 2016. A number of other water mega dams are being built in different parts of the country.
Electricity import
Afghanistan currently imports over 670 MW of electricity from neighboring Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. This costs Afghanistan $280 million annually.
Uzbekistan
Discussions on electricity supplies began back in 2006, the Construction of a high voltage transmission line from Uzbekistan to Afghanistan was completed by October 2008. It runs from Kabul through five Afghan provinces towards the country's border with Uzbekistan, and connects to the Uzbek electricity transmission system. It was expected that the project would cost $198 million SDthe transmission lines were jointly funded by India and the Asian Development Bank. As a result, by early April 2009, all the capital city of Kabul
Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...
had 24-hour electricity, the increase in power has already made a difference to many ordinary Afghans. By 2011, the 220 kV line form Uzbekistan had a capacity of nearly 300 MW.
Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan
After completion, the billion dollar CASA-1000
The Central Asia-South Asia power project, commonly known by the acronym CASA-1000, is a $1.16 billion project currently under construction that will allow for the export of surplus hydroelectricity from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to Afghanistan an ...
project will provide 300 MW of electricity to Afghanistan, with the remaining 1000 MW going towards Pakistan.
Natural gas and oil
Coal
Afghanistan is reported to have coal reserves totalling 100-400 million tons. These mines are located from Badakhshan
Badakhshan is a historical region comprising parts of modern-day north-eastern Afghanistan, eastern Tajikistan, and Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County in China. Badakhshan Province is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan. Much of historic Ba ...
and extend up to Herat Province
Herat (Persian: ) is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the north-western part of the country. Together with Badghis, Farah, and Ghor provinces, it makes up the north-western region of Afghanistan. Its primary city and ...
. The country has more than 11 coal reserves which include the following:
Bamyan province
# Ashposhta and Sarasia coal reserves - 150 million tons
# Sarjungel and Sar Asia coal reserves
Baghlan province
# Karkar coal reserves
# Dodkash coal reserves
Samangan province
# Dara e sof-Shabashak reserves (Very High Quality) 74 million tons
# Darae e sof- Gola badri - Keshine Mabayen Village and Balkhab District coal reserves
Badakhshan province
# Kotal khaki - Barf District coal reserves
Parwan province
# Farakort Gorband Province and Gawoparan Surkhparsa District coal reserves
Herat province
# Karukh coal reserves - 15 million tons
Daikundi province
# Lagharjoe - Kacharan District coal reserves
Uruzgan province
# Kandalan Village Mudakhil District coal reserves
Paktia province
# Khost and Paktia coal reserves - 75 million ton
Solar and wind farms
Afghanistan has the potential to produce over 222,000 MW of electricity by using solar panel
A solar cell panel, solar electric panel, photo-voltaic (PV) module, PV panel or solar panel is an assembly of photovoltaic solar cells mounted in a (usually rectangular) frame, and a neatly organised collection of PV panels is called a photo ...
s. The use of solar power is becoming widespread in Afghanistan. Solar park
A photovoltaic power station, also known as a solar park, solar farm, or solar power plant, is a large-scale grid-connected photovoltaic power system (PV system) designed for the supply of merchant power. They are different from most building- ...
s have been established in a number of Afghan cities.[Private firms to build 30-MW solar park in Afghanistan]
/ref>[ECOsys Implements the Hybrid Solar and Wind Power Plant in Herat Province-Afghanistan](_blank)
/ref>[Solar powered hatchery in Balkh to increase poultry production](_blank)
/ref> Solar-powered street lights are seen in all Afghan cities and towns. Many villagers in rural parts of the country are also buying solar panels and using them.
The country also has the potential to produce over 66,000 MW of electricity by installing and using wind turbine
A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each year. ...
s.[ The first ]wind farm
A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used Wind power, to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundre ...
was successfully completed in Panjshir Province
Panjshir (Dari: , literally "Five Lions," also spelled as Panjsher) is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northeastern part of the country containing the Panjshir Valley. The province is divided into seven district ...
in 2008, which has the potential to produce 100 kW of power. The United States Agency for International Development
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 bi ...
(USAID) has teamed up with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in the US specializes in the research and development of renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy systems integration, and sustainable transportation. NREL is a federally funded research and d ...
to develop a wind map of Herat province. They have identified approximately 158,000 MW of potential wind power. Installing wind turbine farms in Herat could provide electricity to most of western Afghanistan. Smaller projects are wind pumps that already have been attached to water wells in several Herat villages, along with reservoirs for storing up to 15 cubic meters of water. The 300 KW wind farm in Herat was inaugurated in September 2017.
Biomass and biogas
Besides wind and sun, potential alternative energy sources for Afghanistan include biomass
Biomass is plant-based material used as a fuel for heat or electricity production. It can be in the form of wood, wood residues, energy crops, agricultural residues, and waste from industry, farms, and households. Some people use the terms bi ...
, biogas
Biogas is a mixture of gases, primarily consisting of methane, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide, produced from raw materials such as agricultural waste, manure, municipal waste, plant material, sewage, green waste and food waste. It is a ...
, and geothermal energy
Geothermal energy is the thermal energy in the Earth's crust which originates from the formation of the planet and from radioactive decay of materials in currently uncertain but possibly roughly equal proportions. The high temperature and pres ...
.[ ]Biogas plants
Anaerobic digestion is a sequence of processes by which microorganisms break down biodegradable material in the absence of oxygen. The process is used for industrial or domestic purposes to Waste management, manage waste or to produce fuels. Mu ...
are fueled by animal dung, and produce a clean, odourless and smokeless fuel. The digestion process also creates a high-quality fertilizer which can benefit the family farm.
Family-sized biogas plants require 50 kilograms of manure per day to support the average family. Four to six cows are required to produce this amount of manure, or eight to nine camels, or 50 sheep/goats. Theoretically, Afghanistan has the potential to produce about 1,400 million cubic meters of biogas annually. A quarter of this amount could meet half of Afghanistan's energy needs, according to a January 2011 report from the United States National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Lithium and uranium
Afghanistan has large amounts of lithium
Lithium (from el, λίθος, lithos, lit=stone) is a chemical element with the symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal. Under standard conditions, it is the least dense metal and the least dense solid el ...
and uranium
Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...
reserves.[Afghanistan sitting on a gold mine]
Geothermal
An area of vast untapped potential lies in the heat energy locked inside the earth in the form of magma or dry, hot rocks. Geothermal energy
Geothermal energy is the thermal energy in the Earth's crust which originates from the formation of the planet and from radioactive decay of materials in currently uncertain but possibly roughly equal proportions. The high temperature and pres ...
for electricity generation has been used worldwide for nearly 100 years. The technology currently exists to provide low-cost electricity from Afghanistan's geothermal resources, which are located in the main axis areas of the Hindu Kush
The Hindu Kush is an mountain range in Central and South Asia to the west of the Himalayas. It stretches from central and western Afghanistan, Quote: "The Hindu Kush mountains run along the Afghan border with the North-West Frontier Provinc ...
. These run along the Herat fault system, all the way from Herat to the Wakhan Corridor
The Wakhan Corridor ( ps, واخان دهلېز, translit=wāxān dahléz, fa, دالان واخان, translit=dâlân vâxân) is a narrow strip of territory in Badakhshan Province of Afghanistan, extending to Xinjiang in China and separatin ...
in the northern parts of Afghanistan.
With efficient use of the natural resources already abundantly available in Afghanistan, alternative energy sources could be directed into industrial use, supply the energy needs of the nation and build economic self-sufficiency.
See also
*List of power stations in Afghanistan
This article lists power stations in Afghanistan.
Hydroelectric
Gas
Oil
Solar
Wind
See also
*Energy in Afghanistan
*List of dams and reservoirs in Afghanistan
*List of power stations in Asia
*List of largest power stations in ...
*Renewable energy in Afghanistan
Renewable energy in Afghanistan includes biomass, geothermal, hydropower, solar, and wind power. Afghanistan is a landlocked country surrounded by five other countries. With a population of less than 35 million people, it is one of the lowe ...
References
External links
Afghanistan Inter-ministerial Commission for Energy
Energy profil in afghanistan
{{Afghanistan topics