Kabul communication base station inverter reform

There is a bidirectional converter station in Kabul, Afghanistan, to allow the country to draw up 300 MW as a transit fee [21,22]. The yellow line in both Figures 6 and 7 shows this transmission line.

For instance, in 2003, electricity consumers in Kabul numbered 84,831 – at the end of 2014, numbers had increased more than five-fold, to 450,000. DABS is of course expected to increase distribution, as its mandate is to bring electrical power to the Afghan people.

Kabul's peak load is in winter, thus the 300 MW could not be utilised by the consumers in the northern and central regions. The 300 MW can be dispatched to southern and eastern regions – both get their peak in summer – which again, is subject to transmission links with sufficient current carrying capacity.

Energy is one of the most important foundation in growth of a city. Kabul's demand is 620 MW, but the government can only provide 363.5 MW, and its conventional electrical system is associated with problems like limited interaction, non- or one-way communication, limited power flow control, and cas-cading outages.

Uzbekistan supplies Parwan, Samangan and partly Kabul. Tajikistan supplies Baghlan, Balkh, Kunduz and Takhar provinces and, in summer, it transmits power to Kabul (in winter, Tajikistan faces electricity shortages itself), while Uzbekistan additionally feeds Balkh province in summer. Iran supplies electricity to partly Herat and Nimruz provinces.

Clarifying scope of work and forming a neutral regulatory body are key to reform. The electric power sector in Afghanistan suffers from numerous challenges. Roughly 70% of the population has no access to electricity, and 90% of those without electricity live in rural areas.