How to solve Afghanistan’s energy crisis by solving the national grid problem

One of the biggest burdens in Afghanistan is its present energy situation. The lack of stable, ubiquitous, affordable Energy supply causes challenges for all industry sectors. It troubles the daily life of most Afghans. However, more energy generation alone is NOT the answer! A major problem is the limited capacity of Afganistan’s national energy grid. Even if Afghanistan generated a massive amount of additional energy, it could not benefit many of the people & businesses, because the transmission lines would not have the capacity to transport the additional energy to the local households, offices, and factories!

This articles discusses the problem and offers practical solutions. It invites representatives of the Ministry of Energy and Water as well as other experts in related fields for brainstorming and solution workshops.

The existing national grid is a major problem

• Kabul city would need more than 1,000 MW of electricity to cover both private, business and government needs. However, the capacity of the local grid is only 600 MW! No additional energy generation would help. The transformers and local lines would not have the capacity to transport more energy.
• This leads to major power shortage: Many people do not have electricity in their homes during the so-called peak hours (8am to 4pm) when people work in private and government offices. It makes daily life tough for those people at home. It is hard to remain productive. And in winter it can become very cold for some.
• The situation is often worse in other provinces and key cities. Some factories, for example, must limit their production to only several hours per day!
• Further the grid problem also undermines more energy projects. A typical solar power project may recover all costs within 10 years (assuming USD 8 million for 10 MW solar power plant). However, the current grid capacity problem often would not allow the solar power plant to upload the energy to the local grid. The solar power plant would need to connect to the national circle power line or build additional powerlines within the city/ region. This may increase the cost of the solar power project from USD 8 million to 20 million (USD 12 million of distribution lines) and push the timeline to 25 to just recover the costs. Most investors will not agree on investments with such longtime frames. Therefore, many investors do not want to build powerplants… The grid problem undermines new power generation efforts!

What are possible solutions?

A)???? Solution A – Upgrade replace existing transmission lines & transformers

Common engineers have proposed this idea. However, as with every idea there are many downsides:

• It will disrupt existing energy supply. It would be tough on people and interrupt businesses. The impact could be felt for notable times.
• In worst case scenario: Current working transmission stations could be dismantled, while later technical or financial problems could prevent adequate replacement making the situation even worse for some people.

B)???? Solution B – Implement high energy-use hubs and supply those with additional generation delivered through additional power lines. Can be one or several energy sources such as Solar, Hydro, (Wind) etc.

• The preliminary plan proposes to create ten energy hubs including Industrial Park, Shahre-Naw, Katejan, New Kabul city.
• Each energy hub has its own power supply outside the city. Land is notable cheaper there. Powerlines could bring in the additional energy to new transformer stations (one for each energy hub)
• The existing energy coming through the existing old transformers could supply the remain parts of the city with all 600 MW energy and thus meeting all needs.
• This scenario also provides a very important redundancy effect: If the current system fails, the entire Kabul life will go down. Whereas with Solution B, still many parts of the city will have electricity, and such electricity could be shared with all Kabul.
• The redundancy helps also national security. Afghanistan at present is very vulnerable. As simple interruption of the main national power line circle connecting all regions can have a terrible impact on the entire nation. Recent Afghan past shows how easy such major national powerlines can be interrupted through explosions, sabotage, or catastrophes. It is in the government’s best interest to reduce this vulnerability to local and international opponents.

C)???? Solution B can be further complimented with additional local power sources.

a.????? Hydrogen Fuel-cells could add capacity to business & factories and larger housing complexes. Hydrogen can be produced at the main national powerline circle when energy cannot be distributed and would just go to waste. Hydrogen plants could be built at such trouble spots and split water in to Hydrogen, which could be converted into energy H2 gas. Gas could be used to power energy generation plants in other needed areas and/ or transported to the major cities in gas storage tanks similar to propane gas.

b.????? Biofuel, Biodiesel, Biogas – Produce outside the cities. Likely in the agriculture and idle land areas. Grow and turn crops in liquids or gas that can be stored, transported, and turned into energy where needed.

c.????? Wood/ bio palettes for heating & heat generation.

d.????? City food waste and food production waste conversion into energy

e.????? Special chemical/ waste liquids & paste for long-term heat generation. To be researched with respective experts in the petro/ chemical fields

f.?????? Heat pumps. drawing natural energy from the depth of the earth, could serve as additional energy generation source.

g.????? Other

Read more about the Afghan Energy topic here: Solving Afghanistan’s energy generation, distribution and consumption challenges to build the country. | LinkedIn

Engage and contribute:

Discuss and share your expertise! If you are an expert, government advisor or business owner, you may reach out to Alex Steinberg through WhatsApp at +966531824178. (Alex is in Kabul, but continues to use his international number)

About the author Alex Steinberg

Alex has designed and implemented large sustainability development programs for multi-national companies that have gained fame and awards across industries. Alex Steinberg has designed a full evaluation & improvement framework that helps organization evaluate all their energy, environmental, corporate social responsibility, supplier & sourcing situation and take guided actions for continuous improvements. The methodology has become an industry benchmark & standard and has been implemented by thousands of companies.

Alex Steinberg has developed, built, and led companies across the world. He has advised, directed, and supported strategies, programs, and implementations of 30+ famous multi-national organizations. Alex has worked across all key business functions, processes, and value chains of organizations across key industries. Alex has insights into 230+ working for many leading organizations in the world gives him rich experience to analyze, troubleshoot, develop, build, and scale companies.

Alex is currently in Kabul with the intent to help build the private sector in Afghanistan and to improve the lives of 20+ millions Afghans.

Disclaimer:

This article does not reflect the viewpoint of any company or any government organization, nor any current or former employer/ client/ partner associated with the author. The author acknowledges there are often different viewpoints that have their merit and that it is important to discuss constructively to develop better solutions that make the world a better place.