Kazakhstan starts construction of first wind farm

Kazakhstan has started the construction of the first wind farm in Yereimentau.

President NursultanNazarbayev inaugurated the construction in a national teleconference on July 2.

The capacity of the wind farm will be equal to 45 megawatts which is likely to reach to 300 megawatts in the future.

This is sufficient right now for providing some 80,000 apartments with electricity. Both national and foreign companies have been involved in the project.

As part of the wind power project, three new power plants in the cities of Taldykurgan, Aktogay and Semei, as well as some 1,500-kilometer long power transmission lines will be put into operation.

The project will strengthen the North-South transit and meet the electricity demand of the southern region.

Renewable energy, commonly called alternative energy, is an alternative to fossil fuels, and comes from natural sources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are naturally replenished.

Experts believe that Kazakhstan has to turn to alternative energy sources by 2030, as the traditional sources are being exhausted and their prices are on the rise. They say about 20-30 percent of the domestically consumed energy can be saved by using alternative energy.

Kazakhstan viewed by the CIS countries as a promising market for wind and solar energy plans to commission more than 30 renewable energy facilities by 2020.

The share of alternative and renewable energy in the energy basket of Kazakhstan will reach 50 percent by 2050. Today, about 85 percent of Kazakhstan’s electricity comes from coal-fired power plants and close to 9 percent from hydroelectric power plants.

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