CASA 1000

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 Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan are two countries in Central Asia endowed with some of the world’s most abundant clean hydropower resources with water cascading from the mountain ranges and filling the rivers every summer. Both of these countries have a surplus of electricity during the summer. 

• Nearby in South Asia, Afghanistan and Pakistan suffer from chronic electricity shortages while trying to keep pace with a fast-growing demand for it. Pakistan cannot meet its citizens’ electricity needs, especially during the sweltering summer months, leading to frequent power cuts that hurt industrial production, sometimes close small businesses, and lead to job losses. Meanwhile millions of people still live without electricity altogether.

A new electricity transmission system to connect all four countries, called CASA-1000, would help make the most efficient use of clean hydropower resources in the Central Asian countries by enabling them to transfer and sell their electricity surplus during the summer months to the deficient countries in South Asia. 

• The CASA-1000 project would also complement the countries’ efforts to improve electricity access, integrate and expand markets to increase trade, and find sustainable solutions to water resources management.

image source: http://editorials.voa.gov/content/us-supports-electirical-power-central-asia/1830476.html