Is Kazakhstan a good place to invest in solar power?

Kazakhstan has remarkable solar potential with a very well-designed auction system, a clear renewable capacity addition schedule, and a solid decarbonisation target. The country is now also including storage systems as part of its public procurement strategy in a move that will ease further integration of renewables into the grid.

Does Kazakhstan have solar power?

True, Kazakhstan has over 85 percent of Central Asia’s total solar potential, according to a UN estimate. Yet Nazarbayev’s ambition has been slow to meet reality: Four years later, Kazakhstan had only a modest 157 MW of installed solar capacity, about enough to power a small city. State capitalism in China then offered Kazakhstan a nudge.

Where is Kazakhstan's new solar power plant located?

A few months later, the EBRD loaned another $42.5 million toward a $75 million 63 MW solar photovoltaic power plant that Risen is building in Chulakkurgan, north of Shymkent. China, which now produces 70 percent of the world’s solar panels, is well represented in Kazakhstan’s new renewable projects, but it is not the only player.

What is Kazakhstan's largest solar project?

Kazakhstan’s largest solar project – a 100 MW field in Saran, Karaganda Province – was opened last year by a German company, also with EBRD backing. Russian engineers doubled capacity at the EBRD-backed Burnoye plant in Zhambyl in 2018.

How big is solar capacity in Kazakhstan?

Back in 2015, Astana was predicting installed solar capacity by the end of 2020 to reach 714 MW. A government report last month said solar capacity had reached 467 MW. Indeed, renewables are still small fry in Kazakhstan. Today solar accounts for 56 percent of the country’s total renewable capacity.

How efficient is solar energy in Kazakhstan?

The potential of solar energy in Kazakhstan is estimated at 16% efficiency and 2.5 billion kWh per year, which corresponds to an area of about 10 km2 of solar cells. Solar energy can be widely used in two-thirds of the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan, with an average efficiency of modern solar panels ranging from 15-25%. The passage does not directly mention the efficiency of solar energy in Kazakhstan being 2.5 billion kWh per year, but rather the potential of it. So, the efficiency value in the passage is the efficiency of the solar cells.