Kazakhstan to commission over 30 renewable energy facilities
By Aynur Jafarova
Kazakhstan plans to commission more than 30 renewable energy facilities by 2020, first Deputy Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev said on January 27 at a staff meeting of the Ministry Environment and Water Resources.
"It is expected to put into operation more than 30 facilities with a total capacity of 1,850 MW," he said.
Sagintayev also noted several hydro, wind, solar and biogas power plants with total capacity of 16.5 MW have been commissioned in Akmola, Almaty, Zhambyl, Karaganda, Kostanai and North Kazakhstan regions since 2011.
He also noted the need to launch part of projects before the international EXPO exhibition which will be held in Kazakhstan in 2017.
Renewable energy, commonly called alternative energy, is an alternative to fossil fuels, and comes from natural sources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are naturally replenished.
Experts believe that Kazakhstan has to turn to alternative energy sources by 2030, as the traditional sources are being exhausted and their prices are on the rise. They say about 20-30 percent of the domestically consumed energy can be saved by using alternative energy.
Kazakhstan is viewed by the CIS countries as a promising market for wind and solar energy.
The share of alternative and renewable energy in the energy basket of Kazakhstan will reach 50 percent by 2050. Today, about 85 percent of Kazakhstan's electricity comes from coal-fired power plants, and close to 9 percent from hydroelectric power plants.
A leading Germany company ecap Solutions GmbH is planning to construct six solar power plants in Kazakhstan in 2014 -2016.The capacity of each new solar power plant stands at 50 MW.