BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov.21
By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend:
Kazakhstan may be considered a leader among CIS countries by ‘green’ projects implementation, Member of the Directors Board of the Kazakhstan’s Solar Energy Association Yernar Bilyalov told Trend.
According to Bilyalov, the process of renewable energy projects’ implementation became possible in Kazakhstan due to the introduction of ‘On Support of the Use of Renewable Energy Sources’ law (2009) and a number of other legal acts for its implementation.
“In this regard, Kazakhstan may be considered a leader among CIS countries. The country was the first among CIS to approve of the Concept on Transition towards Green Economy in 2013, and first in CIS to approve of country's Environmental Code,” Bilyalov said.
Currently, 83 RES (renewable energy sources) objects of 936.8 MW capacity are operating in Kazakhstan including 18 wind parks, 27 solar parks, 35 hydropower plants and three bioelectric stations. Some 15 objects of 405.17 MW of capacity were launched this year.
According to Bilyalov, the volume of electricity manufactured via RES will exceed two billion kWh in 2019. He also highlighted that capacities of solar parks in Kazakhstan exceed capacities of other RES in the country.
“For the most part solar plants are in south regions of the country. This is due to the potential of solar parks in south regions of the country being 2,500-3,000 sunshine hours a year,” the official said.
Existing manufacturing volume of electricity via RES in Kazakhstan was reached including die to the law support of RES sector.
Bilyalov noted key moments promoting renewable energy development in Kazakhstan including:
- guaranteed purchase of electricity via the auction price over the course of 15 years;
- transparency of the projects selection via auction mechanism;
- annual indexation of auction prices taking into consideration inflation and exchange rates change;
- exemption of electric grid organizations from paying for services of electricity transfer;
- priority dispatching of electricity produced using RES;
- provision of investment benefits in accordance with the Entrepreneurial Code of Kazakhstan;
- consumers support in RES using;
Summing up all the above, the official noted that if the development of solar energy in Kazakhstan is to be evaluated, then it is at the stage of progressive development.
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