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Shifting from hydrocarbon fuels to renewable energy, main solution to energy saving

28 November 2014 12:52 (UTC+04:00)
Shifting from hydrocarbon fuels to renewable energy, main solution to energy saving

By Aynur Jafarova

Climate change is presently one of the acute issues for Kazakhstan, one of the five Central Asian countries, which is rich in terms of hydrocarbon reserves. Although the country produces huge volumes of crude oil, natural gas and gas condensate, experts believe that Kazakhstan, characterized by extreme continental climate, vast territory, low population density and great distances between settlements, has to turn to alternative energy sources by 2030.

This is due to the fact that the traditional sources are being exhausted and their prices are rising. They charge about 20-30 percent of domestically consumed energy which can be saved by using alternative energy resources.

Shifting from hydrocarbon fuels to renewable energy is one of the essential solutions to this problem.

Director of the Energy Charter Secretariat Steivan Defilla believes Kazakhstan needs to continue introduction of mechanisms to encourage energy efficiency. He said within the framework of the 25th Session of the Conference of the Energy Charter in Astana on November 26 that further development of a sustainable economy is impossible without solving issues of increasing energy efficiency and energy conservation.

He noted the greatest capacity for energy saving lies in the country’s industry sector adding: “so the authorities of the country needed mechanisms to encourage industrial enterprises to carry out measures to increase energy efficiency."

Defilla believes energy saving will allow Kazakhstan to reduce the energy intensity of GDP and to release additional energy resources for export.

Solar energy, most promising alternative energy source

Currently, Kazakhstan is looking for new ways to use renewable energy sources. Today the most promising alternative energy sector of Kazakhstan is solar energy given the country's natural conditions.

Kazakh Energy and Mineral Resources Minister of Vladimir Shkolnik said earlier that Kazatomprom National Atomic Company intends to increase the use of solar energy in the country.

“We expect that the solar energy, which accounts for the important part of the electricity in the world, will be widely used in Kazakhstan’s energy industry,” he said at a meeting with Economy Minister of the Netherlands Henk Kamp in Astana.

Shkolnik added that Kazakhstan has all opportunities to expand the use of alternative energy, including the domestically produced solar panels.

Measures taken

To date, Kazakhstan has adopted various documents in this regard. In late January, the country adopted an action plan on the development of renewable energy sources for a period from 2013 to 2020.

According to a concept for a transition to 'green economy', in case of high domestic prices for natural gas, the energy basket of the country will comprise 11 percent of wind and solar energy sources while the share of nuclear power will be 8 percent, hydropower 10 percent, gas 21 percent and coal 49 percent by 2030.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has set a task to reduce the consumption of energy by 10 percent each year until 2015.

Last year, Kazakhstan adopted the Energy Efficiency-2020 program. As part of the Energy Efficiency-2020 program, it is planned to implement 78 different activities worth more than 1.1 trillion tenges.

As part of the program on modernization of housing and utilities sector for 2011-2020, the renovation of houses with thermo-elements are now underway. This will allow reducing heat consumption by 30 percent.

Also, the construction process of three energy centers - in Astana, Almaty and Aktobe - is underway. The main goal is to create a platform for the promotion of energy-saving and energy-efficient technologies and materials.

The long-term energy efficiency program prepares the ground for public monitoring of the implementation of energy conservation programs by local executive bodies and promotion of energy saving, etc.

According to projections, if the energy conservation efforts are not taken into account, consumption of energy resources in Kazakhstan could amount to 90 million tons of oil equivalent by 2015 and 120 tons of oil equivalent by 2020.

It is expected that the share of renewable energy sources in Kazakhstan's power grid to reach 3 percent by 2020. Kazakhstan's laws in the renewable energy source will enable the country to encourage investors to take part in the development of this sector.

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