Energy transition in the power sector of Kazakhstan

What this event was about

Renewable electricity is key to the energy transition and to achieving carbon neutrality in Kazakhstan by 2060. As of the third quarter of 2023, the contribution of non-hydropower renewable energy sources to Kazakhstan's electricity mix has already reached 6 percent. The goal is to raise this figure to 15 percent by 2030 and ambitiously target a 50 percent share of alternative energy generation by 2050.

However, Kazakhstan is facing a number of challenges on its way, such as outdated infrastructure and related to it bottlenecks, lack of flexibility, low electricity tariffs and resulting chronic underinvestment in the power sector. The specific challenge is the abundance of coal-fired generation that impedes the achievement of the 2030 NDC target (to reduce GHG emissions by 15 percent below 1990 levels, including LULUCF – land use, land-use change and forestry) and the 2060 carbon neutrality target.

How to modernise the aging power system of Kazakhstan? Could the share of renewables in the 2030 power mix be higher than the targeted 15 percent? How to tackle the coal dominance in the electricity generation and what consequences might come from quitting coal? These and other questions were addressed at this hybrid event which was jointly organised by EcoJer, Qazac Green and Agora Energiewende. With representatives from NGOs and the power industry we discussed their visions for the energy transition in the power sector of Kazakhstan.

Programme
You can find the programme for the event below.

Interpretation
The event took place in Russian with interpretation into English.

Slides
We usually publish slides shown during our events afterwards.

Recording
In case of a recording of this event we will publish it shortly after the event.