On the evening of Oct. 19, a transformer protection system tripped at the Aksa Tashkent thermal power plant in Kibray district, Tashkent province, cutting the plant’s output from 460 megawatts to 185 MW.
Damage to the transformer caused temporary power cuts in parts of Tashkent’s Yunusabad, Almazar, Mirzo-Ulugbek and Shaykhantakhur districts. The Energy Ministry said supply was restored within about half an hour using backup sources.
The ministry later said the outage was caused by a flying balloon that hit the plant’s open switchgear.
Video footage that has been published shows a small object falling, followed by a flash, and a burst red balloon lying on the ground.
The ministry urged the public not to launch balloons near power plants, substations or other electrical installations.
The plant was commissioned in January 2022 by Turkish company Aksa Enerji. The company operates three more plants in Uzbekistan, in Tashkent, Bukhara and Kashkadarya provinces. Its sister company, Aksa Elektric, won a tender to manage the power grids of Samarkand province and plans to take over those of Tashkent, Syrdarya and Jizzakh provinces as well.
