On the morning of September 25, 2026, a major system incident occurred in the unified power grid of Central Asia. The failure was caused by an emergency shutdown of 1,600 MW of power at the new Syrdarya Thermal Power Plant in Uzbekistan, Daryo.uz reported.
The sudden loss of generation triggered a sudden surge in power from the regional grid, resulting in the splitting of the North-South transit line in Kazakhstan and a 962 MW power supply restriction to the republic's southern regions.
Thanks to the normal operation of the emergency control system, system operators managed to avoid a major blackout. Within 41 minutes, parallel operation of Kazakhstan's Southern Zone and the region's Unified Power Grid was fully restored, and all restrictions for consumers in both countries were lifted.
The incident once again demonstrated the high degree of technological interdependence of the countries of Central Asia. The failure of a major generating facility in one republic immediately creates a transboundary imbalance, threatening the stability of energy supplies to neighboring countries.
The rapid response to the accident confirmed the effectiveness of emergency protection and the coordination of dispatch control in the region. At the same time, the regularity of such failures at new generation facilities highlights the severity of the problem of network deterioration and accelerates the need to create sufficient maneuvering reserves to ensure overall energy security in Central Asia.
CentralasianLIGHT.org
September 25, 2026