ZHAMBYL – The most powerful hydropower plant (9.2 MW) in the region was launched in May 2013 on the Tasotkel Reservoir by “A&T – Energo” and has already generated 8 million KW. That is enough electricity to supply a district like Lugovskoi with three months worth of electricity.
Since 2010, the Zhambyl region has been leading in the development of green technologies in Kazakhstan. Zhambyl is home to nine renewable energy resource projects worth US$390 million with a total generating capacity of 186 MW.
Three years ago, the Merke HPP-3 was launched along the mountain river Merkenka; it is the first hydro plant built since Kazakhstan declared its independence from the Soviet Union. In 2011, the Kordai wind farm was built with a capacity of 1.5 MW. At the end of 2012, KazEkoVatt launched the first line of the Otar Solar Power Plant (504 kW) in the Kordai district, the only one in the country.
2013 was a good year for green power in Kazakhstan: in July, the Karakysta HPP, capable of producing 2.1 MW opened in the Ryskulov district; in the Zhambyl district, the French company Fonroche Energie SAS started building a 24 MW solar power plant. With the help of Russian investors, it is planned to construct a cascade of Merke HPPs (19.8 MW).
Thanks to renewable energy, the region will be able to meet its own electric power needs in the coming years; it will also be able to share power with other regions of Kazakhstan. It is important that the cost of electricity produced by environmentally friendly alternative energy sources is significantly below the usual rates. The Tasotkel HPP, for example, charges 10.89 tenge (US$0.07) per kilowatt.
