The green ambitions of Kazakhstan's economy

The country has 142 centres of wind farms, large solar panel plants and hydroelectric stations. Overall, production from renewable sources still remains below 5% of total energy, but the government aims to reach 50% by 2050. However, logistics and climatic conditions remain obstacles to be overcome.

Astana (AsiaNews) - In the aftermath of the conclusion of COP28 in Dubai - which failed to definitively bury the fossil fuels of the Saudis, Russians and Iranians - Kazakhstan instead finds itself  a herald of the green economy in the vast ex- Soviet and Central Asian.

Already 10 years ago, the green turning point of the Kazakh economy was proclaimed, according to which by 2050 at least half of the energy produced by the country must be generated from renewable sources, water, sun and wind. Kazakhstan's potential in this field is considered enormous, in the vastness of its sparsely populated, but widely available territory.

The first explicit concept of the green economy was in fact approved in 2013, still under the presidency of Nursultan Nazarbaev, establishing 15% of production from renewable sources by 2030, and 50% by 2050. One of the first major projects was the park wind farm in the Šeleksk corridor, 140 km from Almaty, the most populous city in Kazakhstan.

The power of the 24 turbine station at 90 meters high, inaugurated in September 2022, is 226 giga watts per hour, 5% of the metropolis' annual consumption needs. The park cost 80 million dollars, financed with credits granted by China's central bank.

Management was entrusted to the state company Samruk-Energo in common with the Chinese partner Power China, owner of 75% of the station, and together they declared that the wind farm "will be a great resource not only for Kazakhstan, but for the entire planet”, as it will allow us to reduce emissions by saving 80 thousand tons of coal, guaranteeing energy for 60 thousand homes. The Astana government has allocated over 700 billion tenge to renewable energy over the last decade.

Currently, 142 centers including wind farms, solar panels and hydroelectric stations are active in Kazakhstan, which overall still account for less than 5% of total energy. Optimism about the overall development still remains quite high, even if the timing is held back by many factors, starting with logistics difficulties, which prevent the large wind turbine towers with the entire structure from being transported and installed with the necessary speed.

Road communications are very limited in the country, and the temperatures have a huge impact, putting production companies to the test by having to calculate a tuning fork between -50 and +50 degrees depending on the seasons.

The costs are much higher than in most other countries, as shown by reports from the European Development and Reconstruction Bank, another of the major creditors of Kazakhstan's green projects.

Climatic instability was also quite evident in the drought months of this year, in which the excessively long sequence of days without wind, as well as those with the sun covered, can render the installations that ensure clean energy completely inactive without combinations with the fossil one.

According to Žaslan Kasenov, director of the renewable sources department of the energy ministry, "we are still far from the possible replacement of fossil fuels with renewables, compared to other countries where conditions are more favourable".

"maneuvers agreed with neighboring states" are also needed, asserts energy and economic expert Aset Nauryzbaev, former director of the Kegoc company, a national operator for the administration of electricity networks.

Kazakhstan is already ready to make facilities such as the very powerful Turkestan gas station or that of Kyzylord available, as reserves for large renewable projects that go beyond the southern borders and spread a new culture and a new technology.

As another expert, Anuar Koškarbaev, states, the problem "is not mainly in technologies: if Denmark manages to produce 67% of its energy with alternative sources, it is thanks to the reserve guarantees of neighboring countries, in a concept of solidarity global".

These problems are usually addressed by Kazakhstan in bilateral negotiations, when a community vision is needed, which makes Central Asia "a true union of peoples, not just a region of secondary countries compared to other large centers".

• environment
• energy
• renewables
• Kazakhstan
• Astana
• Cop 28
• ecological transition