Kambar-Ata-2 HPP: mining and modernization

The Kambar-Ata HPP-2 is actively mining cryptocurrency at preferential rates, and equipment for the station is purchased at inflated prices, according to the opposition publication “Kloop”. According to journalists, this is done to reduce the investment obligations of the business responsible for the modernization of the HPP.

While the head of the Cabinet of Ministers of Kyrgyzstan, Adylbek Kasymaliev, is looking for investors in the USA for the Kambar-Ata-1 HPP, strange things are going on at Kambar—Ata-2. Bakiev miners, who were given this power plant for modernization, bought old and unsuitable equipment for it, Kloop found out. Moreover, as the shareholder of OJSC “Electric Stations”, which includes this HPP, informed us, the price of this equipment was overestimated by 34 times.

In 2023, we told how the government of Kyrgyzstan gave electricity to the state-owned Kambar-Ata-2 hydroelectric power station to miners on the cheap. The unknown mining company MBT-Stroy with Russian participation received it at cost price — less than 1 som per kilowatt. This is six times cheaper than the population pays. Although the official tariff for mining in Kyrgyzstan at that time was 5.04 soms per kilowatt.

Officials then justified themselves: in return, investors will invest 1.5 billion soms in the modernization of the HPP. They say that now out of the 120 megawatts produced by Kambar-Ata-2, 30 megawatts are “locked” — they are not allowed into the unified energy system of Kyrgyzstan by too weak transformers and power lines. The investor will replace them with more powerful ones — and the scarce electricity will run like a merry river into the country’s unified energy system. And for this he will be allowed to put a mining farm on Kambar-Ata.

It was, to put it mildly, cunning. Firstly, the situation with mining on state electricity is ambiguous. In 2019, the National Energy Holding forbade doing this, and the State Committee for National Security detained miners and confiscated equipment. Secondly, MBT-Stroy turned out to be connected with the Bakiyev clan, which was widely known for its machinations in the energy sector. Thirdly, under the terms of the contract, no one in Kyrgyzstan will see the “released” megawatts anyway: under the terms of the agreement, miners will spend 10 years on themselves, earning crypto.

But that was only part of the story. As Kloop found out, the miners, in exchange for almost free electricity, bought old 22-year-old transformers for the power plant, which, moreover, are obviously not suitable for the main task of the investment project.

Why don’t they fit?

In order to release the “locked” capacity of Kambar-Ata 2 and connect the power plant to the unified energy system of Kyrgyzstan, the open switchgear of the HPP must produce a voltage of 500 kilovolts, explains Rasul Umbetaliev, a shareholder of Electric Stations OJSC and an energy expert. And these transformers according to the passport are able to produce only 110 kilovolts.

According to an independent expert appraiser invited by OJSC “Electric Stations” to “Kambar-Ata 2” (the report is at the disposal of “Kloop”), the repair of these transformers, which have been working for 20 years somewhere, was carried out somehow: oil stains, curved seams from autogen, corrosion.

But the most surprising thing is that investors from MBT-Stroy estimated these two transformers at 55 million soms each, Umbetaliev told Kloop. Although, as an independent examination has shown, even new such transformers are sold by the manufacturer at 4.8 million soms apiece. And the red price for these, according to the estimates of an expert appraiser, is 1.6 million soms apiece.

It turns out that investors at Kambar-Ata have overestimated the price of transformers by 34 times, Umbetaliev says.

The expert opinion says that the transformers were repaired by the Russian company RTO from Togliatti. We got through to her. The director of the company Vladimir Lemeshev admitted that yes, it was repaired. But I advised you to ask the customer all questions about the quality of repairs. That is, the MBT-Stroy company.

This company is owned by a former metal dealer from Moscow, Alexei Zaitsev. We have already written about the mysterious downshifting of this person. The revenue of his Russian holding company A-Group reached almost $ 1 billion. But for some reason he sold it and got into a dubious story with mining on Kambar-Ata 2.

We called Zaitsev to find out why he bought such — obviously worthless and old — transformers, and why he so godlessly overestimated their price. He replied that he could not speak, and then stopped picking up the phone.

We sent a request to the Minister of Energy Taalaibek Ibrayev to find out whether these transformers were recognized as serviceable, and how much they were eventually assessed. There is no answer yet. The Ministry of Energy informed us that they had sent specialists to Kambar-Ata 2 to find out what was going on there. According to Umbetaliev, the mining farm at Kambar-Ata 2 is in full swing and last year it consumed 20 million state kilowatts.

So, appreciate the beauty of the game. The government boasts that Kyrgyzstan’s budget is almost bursting with money for the first time in history. But for some reason, 1.5 billion soms is not being found for new transformers and power lines for Kambar-Ata-2. Instead, Bakiev miners are brought to the state hydroelectric power station and they give them electricity for almost 10 years for nothing — if only they would replace the equipment. And they buy junk that is not suitable for this purpose. And, according to the shareholder of Electric Stations OJSC, they overestimate its price by 34 times in order to report on their allegedly huge investments.

These are typical “Shirshovsky schemes,” says Rasul Umbetaliev. He is referring to the corruption schemes that operated in the electric power industry under the Bakievs — their author is considered to be Maxim Bakiyev’s friend Alexei Shirshov. Three years ago, he returned to Kyrgyzstan and was released from criminal prosecution.

The profit of the miners is fantastic. And it is paid for by the population of Kyrgyzstan, who do not have enough electricity and for whom the government raises the tariff every year. The same government that allowed mining to be put on Kambar-Ata.

“Kloop”

Original (in Russian): ГЭС «Камбар-Ата-2»: майнинг и модернизация