Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan is a landlocked state in Central Asia with access to the Caspian and Aral seas. It borders Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan   

The country spreads across 2,724,900 km2 with a population of 19.082 million people and a capital city Nur-Sultan. 

Fossil fuels are the backbone of the centralised Kazakh energy sector. However, renewable energy developments are expanding with further ambitious plans. The Government is actively supporting renewable energy development since 2009, which means that the country has already created a sustainable environment for RES projects to thrive. The Ministry of Energy organises yearly auctions off 250 MW of renewable energy to private investors, willing either to enter the local RES market or to expand their presence. At the moment, solar and wind energy enjoy the largest share of all the RES generating sources in the country’s energy mix.  

Despite governmental support, the renewable energy potential of Kazakhstan remains largely untapped. It is estimated that wind energy could be producing 920 billion kWh per year, while solar energy could contribute another 2.5 billion kWh per year. Further developments of hydropower are also prospective as the estimated potential for hydropower in Kazakhstan hits 62 billion kWh per year.  

Kazakhstan is quite ambitious in its renewable energy goals. For 2020, the share was established as 3% of the total energy mix. This should double by 2025 and reach 10% of the energy mix by 2030. Finally, in 2050, the country estimates to get half of the energy mix from renewable energy sources.  

The country has many support schemes that are not only limited to auctioning renewable energy development capacities. This also includes several tax incentives, guaranteed PPAs from the government, and Feed-in-tariff for independent power producers using renewable energy.  

Overall, Kazakhstan is a net electricity exporter that is connected to the central Asian energy system. The latter allows it to trade electricity with almost all neighbouring states, except China. The total length of the national electric grid is 26,997.923 km, which connects the spacious country and provides the infrastructure necessary for RES integration.