BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 20. European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is eyeing the provision of senior loan to Almaty Power Plants JSC (APP) for comprehensive modernisation of the existing Combined Heat and Power Plant 2 (CHP-2), Trend reports citing the EBRD.
The aim of the modernization is the full replacement of coal by natural gas as a primary fuel in order to reduce CO2 emissions and improve air quality in the Almaty city. The Almaty CHP-2 is the biggest source of heating in the largest city of Kazakhstan.
The Project is a part of the Green Cities Program of EBRD in Almaty. The primary aim of the Project is to reduce CO2 emissions in the city by c. 3 million tons (down c. 56%) and fully avoid air emissions of particulate matter and NOx.
The latter is particularly important given Almaty's statistics on pollution-related diseases - according to studies conducted by Kazakh National Medical University named after Asfendiyarov, 24% of adults and 57% of children in Almaty suffer from chronic pulmonary diseases (2013-2017 statistics), significantly above country averages and 2-3 times higher than in comparable urban areas of CIS.
The Project will be implemented under the EPC Contract, with contractor to be selected following EBRD PP&R for public sector operations. The compliance of proposed technical design with Best Available Technologies (BAT) is an explicit condition in tender documentation.
The EBRD loan will finance brownfield deep modernisation of 510 MW Combined Heat and Power Plant-2 in Almaty with conversion from coal to gas. The Project will have a significant immediate impact on air quality in Almaty.
After modernisation, the Plant will be able to provide certain balancing capacity to the national grid and will facilitate faster implementation of renewable energy projects and back up development of renewable heating solutions, in line with Low Carbon Pathway for energy and heating sector. In addition to environmental impact, the Project will provide support for improved institutional-level capacity on gender and youth inclusion.
The project’s total cost is 324.1 billion tenge ($678.07 million), and the EBRD’s loan value is expected to be 126 billion tenge ($236.5 million).
Almaty Power Plants JSC (APP) is a power generating company operating three Coal and Heat Power Plants and two Hydro Power Plants in Almaty and Almaty region (the most populated region in Kazakhstan) with total installed capacity of 1,236 MW.
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