Kazakhstan unveils solar energy goals

Under a call to build a “green economy”, the government of Kazakhstan has announced plans to build 1.04 GW of renewable energy capacity in the nation by 2020, including four solar photovoltaic (PV) plants.

Press reports cited by PV-Tech indicate that the four PV plants will total 77 MW. The announcement was made at a meeting attended by Kazakh Prime Minister Serik Akhmetov and other heads of state on February 5th, 2013, and includes plans to build 13 wind plants and four hydroelectric plants by 2020.

“This order requires the adoption of a uniform and balanced position with the environmental, economic and social aspects,” stated Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Aset Isekeshev, who also serves as minister of industry and new technologies.

“In this regard, the system has already developed a number of measures to be worked out, with further actions aimed at the sustainable development of the fuel and energy complex of Kazakhstan.”

While many nations with emerging PV markets have made bold proclamations that are not followed by rapid development, Kazakhstan’s goals are more modest and the nation has already made progress towards building domestic PV manufacturing and capacity.

Bisol DOO (Prebold, Slovakia) is currently constructing a 2 MW PV plant in Almaty Province, Kazakhstan, as the largest in Central Asia. As for manufacturing, state-owned power company Kazatomprom (Astana, Kazakhstan) expects to commission the first 50 MW line of its solar photovoltaic (PV) module factory in Astana in the first quarter of 2013.

In 2012, Kazakhstan produced 450 GWh from renewable energy sources, a 6% increase over the prior year.

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