DATES: December 2010 - December 2014

PARTNERS: Louis Berger Group/Black & Veatch (LBG/B&V)

 

The Kandahar Helmand Power Project (KHPP) promotes the growth, reliability and sustainability of Afghanistan’s Southern Electric Power System (SEPS).  The project contributes to U.S. government civilian-military cooperation on counterinsurgency, and helps the Afghan Government address a  20-25 megawatt (MW) electricity shortfall in Kandahar City, which is Afghanistan’s second largest city and is a center for education, healthcare, manufacturing, and transportation in Southern Afghanistan.  As part of the project, USAID will install and commission an 18.5 MW turbine to be placed into unit 2 of the Kajaki Hydropower Plant, which will add to the 32 MW of renewable power already being provided by units 1 and 3, both of which were installed and restored by USAID.  To ensure that SEPS can accommodate increased power loads, KHPP will also renovate and upgrade the Kandahar City medium- and low-voltage distribution system, construct substations, modernize Kajaki’s control systems, and build Afghan capacity to effectively manage the increases.  As a result, increasingly reliable and affordable power will reach an expanding number of residences, businesses and government offices in Helmand and Kandahar provinces.  Expected impacts include increased economic growth and stability in the region.  Finally, the KHPP project will complement another USAID project, the Power Transmission Expansion and Connectivity (PTEC) project, which will bring additional renewable power to the region by 2016 by connecting SEPS to the North East Power System (NEPS).