Chirchik-Bozsu Hydroelectric System

a complex of hydroengineering structures on the Chirchik River. The system’s total rated power is approximately 1.2 gigawatts, with an average annual production of 4.7 billion kilowatt-hours. In 1976, 18 of the system’s 19 power plants were in service: Charvak; Khodzhikent; Tavak; F. G. Loginov Chirchik; Akkavak I, II, and III; Kadyria; Salar; Bozsu; Sheikhantaur; Burdzhar; Aktepa; and Nizhniaia Bozsu I, II, III, IV, and VI. The Gazalkent Hydroelectric Power Plant was still under construction in 1976.

The system is situated in the middle and lower basin of the Chirchik River. The region is the most densely settled and industrially developed area of the Uzbek SSR, and it has a vast irrigation system. Harnessing the power resources of the Chirchik River began in 1926, when the first of 12 hydroelectric power plants was built on the main Bozsu irrigation canal. Between 1940 and 1943, the following major hydroelectric power plants were put into service: Tavak (73 megawatts), F. G. Loginov Chirchik (86 megawatts), and Akkavak I and II. Construction of the main power plant—Charvak (600 megawatts)—was begun in 1963 and was completed in 1972. The hydroengineering complex includes a rock-fill dam 168 m high that forms a reservoir with a volume of 2 cu km; the reservoir makes it possible to control the discharge of water used for irrigation. The total irrigated area served by the system is approximately 300,000 hectares.