ASTANA – The European renewable energy consultancy group Wind Prospect will provide consulting services to the 3E energy company that is building the 50-megawatt Yereimentau Wind Farm in central Kazakhstan’s Akmola oblast, the firm announced on Aug. 17. 3E is an energy, ecology and engineering company working for Samruk-Energo, a subsidiary of the Samruk Kazyna Sovereign Wealth Fund.
“We are delighted to be able to play a part in supporting the development of Kazakhstan’s nascent renewable energy industry,” said Wind Prospect’s Construction and Operations Director Bruce Allan in a Wind Prospect press release. “We look forward to sharing our expertise and experience gained over two decades in global renewable energy development, construction, operation and advisory services to deliver a highly successful project in partnership with 3E.”
Wind Prospect is to provide construction project management and turbine procurement services for 3E for two and a half years. Construction on the project, Kazakhstan’s first wind project, according to Wind Power Monthly, is set to begin in June 2016 and end one or two years later.
In 2014, the Yereimentau Wind Farm was awarded funding under the Clean Technology Fund (CTF), a fund of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). It is the first energy-generation project to receive funding from the CTF, according to Wind Prospect. The wind farm is likely to be expanded to 300 MW in the future, GreenTech Lead reports.
3E Project Manager Philip Ward said, “We selected Wind Prospect as our partner of choice on the strength of their track record in the industry and their ability to bolster the skills and expertise provided throughout by 3E. We look forward to working together throughout this crucial phase in the project lifecycle to ultimately ensure the future prosperity of Kazakhstan as a world leader in renewables,” according to Wind Prospect.
In 2014, the head of the department for housing and communal service and energy of the Kazakh government said it would be investing $100–150 million in six new wind projects in northern Kazakhstan through a government programme to develop renewable energy in the oil-dependent nation, Wind Power Monthly reported at the time of the announcement. Then, the projects were expected to be online in 2018. Kazakh Energy Minister Vladimir Shkolnik announced in July that the country expects to increase the share of renewable energy in overall energy output to a minimum of 3 percent by 2020.
