Iranian firm to build power stations in Kazakhstan
By Fatma Babayeva
Iran’s power and water equipment and services export company SUNIR signed a contract with Kazakhstan’s Eurasia Invest Group in Tehran recently.
SUNIR will build one wind and two thermal plants in Kazakhstan in 18 months, Bahman Salehi, the CEO of the company told on the sidelines of Iran-Kazakhstan Business Council meeting in Tehran, IRNA reported.
The contract value amounts to $600 million. The planned wind power station will have 50 megawatts capacity and thermal power plants 250 megawatts in accordance with the agreement, Salehi added. The wind plant will be built on the Kazakh coast of the Caspian Sea, and the other two on the Silk Road- in Almaty, the former capital of Kazakhstan.
The CEO also mentioned that it was decided that SUNIR will cooperate with Kazakhstan in various sphere such as water supply and sewerage system, construction of gas pipeline, road development and mining in Kazakhstan. The parties expressed their desire to sign a memorandum of understanding in these areas.
Kazakhstan expressed strong incentives to expand trade ties and vowed to provide Iranian traders with any permit they may need to start business in Kazakhstan.
Kazakh Minister for Investments and Development, Asset Issekeshev earlier noted that 900 Iranian companies are currently active in different fields in Kazakhstan, particularly in chemical industries, Tehran Times reported.
Kazakhstan's Statistic Agency revealed that the country’s power generation was 91 billion kilowatt hour for 2013 and 98 billion kilowatt hour for 2014.
The country hopes to increase electricity production to 150 billion kilowatt hour by 2030.
About 70 percent of electricity has been produced in coal fired power station in Kazakhstan. The rest has been generated from oil, natural gas and hydro resources.
Kazakhstan’s power generation industry has experienced hard post-Soviet transformation period. The production and consumption of electricity fell significantly after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
However, power generation rose again in 2010s. 14 electricity generation projects have been included in the country’s industrial program and eight were completed.
More than 80 per cent of electric power generation has been privatized in Kazakhstan. The government does not regulate prices for electricity, and consumers are free to choose their own providers (currently there are 15 licensed electricity traders).
The country also has plans for renewable development and nuclear plant.
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Fatma Babayeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Fatma_Babayeva
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