BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, April 1. Kyrgyzstan plans to develop nuclear energy to produce electricity, said Deputy Minister of Energy Taalaibek Baigaziev during the ATOMEXPO-2024 forum in Sochi (Russia), Trend reports.
"Kyrgyzstan is heading towards the development of nuclear power. Naturally, this cannot be done or built in one year. However, we are now exploring everything based on our network infrastructure," he said.
Along with this, in 2023, Kyrgyzstan imported 3.4 billion kWh of electricity. Electricity was imported from Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Russia.
According to the Deputy Minister, importing electricity puts a strain on transportation networks in the winter.
"We have set a course for increasing internal capacities using renewable energy sources, building base generation of 100–300 MW," he said.
As Baigaziev noted, the country also intends to develop wind energy.
Meanwhile, in 2022, Kyrgyzstan's Ministry of Energy signed a memorandum of cooperation with Rosatom for the construction of a small nuclear power plant using the RITM-200 reactor in Kyrgyzstan. Later, it was announced that this involves the construction of one or several small nuclear power stations, each with a capacity of 55 megawatts.
Furthermore, Kyrgyzstan plans to put into operation 17 hydroelectric power stations (HPS) by 2026. The Kyrgyz government intends to commission at least 50 MW of new capacity in 2024 and 62 MW in 2026, including both big and minor hydroelectric power facilities.
The country also plans to introduce an additional capacity of 6,450 MW of solar and wind power stations between 2024 and 2026. Approximately 13 stations are expected to become operational during this period.