At Kambarata HPP-2, active cryptocurrency mining is carried out at preferential rates, and equipment for the station is purchased at inflated prices, says the opposition publication «Kloop». According to journalists, this is being done to reduce the investment obligations of the business responsible for modernizing the hydroelectric power station.

While the head of the Cabinet of Ministers of Kyrgyzstan, Adylbek Kasymaliev, is looking for investors in the United States for the hydroelectric power station «Kambar-Ata-1» — strange things continue at «Kambar-Ata-2». The Bakiyev miners, to whom this power plant was given for modernization, bought old and unsuitable equipment for it, «Kloop» found out. Moreover, as the shareholder of OJSC «Electric Stations», which includes this hydroelectric power station, told us, the price of this equipment was inflated by 34 times.

In 2023, we described how the government of Kyrgyzstan gave electricity to the state-owned hydroelectric power station «Kambar-Ata-2» at a low price to miners. An unknown mining company «MBT-Stroy» with Russian participation received it at cost — less than 1 som per kilowatt. This is six times cheaper than what the population pays. Although the official mining tariff in Kyrgyzstan was then 5.04 soms per kilowatt.

Officials then made excuses: in return, investors would invest 1.5 billion soms in the modernization of the hydroelectric power station. They say that now out of 120 megawatts that «Kambar-Ata-2» produces, 30 megawatts «are locked» — they are not allowed into the unified energy system of Kyrgyzstan by too weak transformers and power lines. The investor will replace them with more powerful ones — and scarce electricity will run like a merry river into the country’s unified energy system. And for this he will be allowed to set up a mining farm in Kambar-Ata.

It was, to put it mildly, disingenuous. Firstly, the situation with mining using state electricity is ambiguous. In 2019, the National Energy Holding prohibited this, and the State Committee for National Security detained miners and confiscated equipment. Secondly, «MBT-Stroy» turned out to be associated with the Bakiyev clan, which was widely known for its fraud in the energy sector. Third, under the terms of the contract, no one in Kyrgyzstan will see the «exempted» megawatts anyway: under the terms of the agreement, miners will spend 10 years on themselves, earning crypto.

But that was only part of the story. As «Kloop» found out, miners, in exchange for almost free electricity, purchased old 22-year-old transformers for the power plant, which, moreover, are obviously not suitable for fulfilling the main task of the investment project.

Why don’t they fit?

To free up the «locked» power «Kambar-Aty 2» and connect the power plant to the unified energy system of Kyrgyzstan, the open switchgear of the hydroelectric power station must produce a voltage of 500 kilovolts, explains shareholder of OJSC «Electric Stations» and energy expert Rasul Umbetaliev. And these transformers, according to their passport, are capable of producing only 110 kilovolts.

According to an independent expert-evaluator invited by OJSC «Electric Stations» to «Kambar-Ata 2» (the report is at the disposal of «Kloopa»), the repair of these transformers, which had been working for unknown 20 years, was carried out somehow: oil leaks, curved seams from autogen, corrosion.

But the most surprising thing: investors from «MBT-Stroy» valued these two transformers at 55 million soms each, Umbetaliev told «Kloop». Although, as an independent examination has shown, even new such transformers are sold by the manufacturer at 4.8 million soms per piece. And the red price for these used ones, according to the calculations of an expert appraiser, is — 1.6 million soms per piece.

It turns out that investors at «Kambar-Ata» inflated the price of transformers by 34 times, says Umbetaliev.

The expert’s conclusion states that the transformers were repaired by a Russian company «RTO» from Tolyatti. We reached her. The director of the company, Vladimir Lemeshev, admitted that yes, they repaired it. But he advised me to ask the customer all questions about the quality of repairs. That is, the company «MBT-Stroy».

This company is owned by former metal dealer from Moscow Alexey Zaitsev. We have already written about this man’s mysterious downshifting. The revenue of his Russian holding «A-Group» reached almost $1 billion. But for some reason he sold it and got into a dubious story with mining on «Kambar-Ata 2».

We called Zaitsev to find out why he bought such — clearly unusable and old — transformers, and why he so shamelessly inflated their price. He replied that he could not speak, and then stopped picking up the phone.

We sent a request to the Minister of Energy Taalaibek Ibraev to find out whether these transformers were recognized as suitable for operation and how much they were ultimately valued at. There is no answer yet. The Ministry of Energy told us that they sent specialists to «Kambar-Ata 2» — to find out what was happening there. According to Umbetaliev, the mining farm at «Kambar-Ata 2» is in full swing and last year it consumed 20 million government kilowatts.

So, appreciate the beauty of the game. The government boasts that Kyrgyzstan’s budget is bursting with money for almost the first time in history. But for some reason he doesn’t find 1.5 billion soms for new transformers and power lines for «Kambar-Ata-2». Instead, they install Baku miners at the state hydroelectric power station and give them electricity for almost nothing for 10 years — as long as they replace the equipment. And they buy junk that is not suitable for this purpose. And, according to the shareholder of OJSC «Electric Stations», they inflate its price by 34 times in order to report on their supposedly huge investments.

These are typical «Shirshov schemes», says Rasul Umbetaliev. He is referring to the corruption schemes that operated in the electric power industry under the Bakiyevs —their author is considered to be Maxim Bakiyev’s friend Alexey Shirshov. Three years ago he returned to Kyrgyzstan and was released from criminal prosecution.

The profit for miners is simply fantastic. And it was paid for by the population of Kyrgyzstan, which lacks electricity and whose tariffs are increased by the government every year. The same government that allowed mining on «Kambar-Ata».

«Kloop»