EBRD anticipates enlarged investment in renewable energy in Kazakhstan

ASTANA. KAZINFORM EBRD Directior for Kazakhstan Agris Preimanis believes that the investment in renewable energy projects in Kazakhstan will increase at the end of this year. He stated this today in a briefing for journalists after signing international agreements and memorandums in the Kazakh Government, Kazinform correspondent reports.

"The fact that today I and Minister Bozumbayev are signing [the agreements and memorandums] also continues all the work on renewable energy sources we are doing together with the Ministry of Energy. Today, we signed a framework agreement to support projects, worth $200MM. It is the money we will give out in tenge for the renewable energy projects. This is solar energy, wind power and so on. Our actions showed that investment in the country is possible. And I would like to note that when it comes to investing in renewables, the market is not yet fully developed in such countries as Kazakhstan. The main issue is the regulatory base," Agris Preimanis said.

According to him, the work to address these issues is underway in Kazakhstan.
"Yes, it is investment in a few projects for now. But I'm sure that, owing to to the work that is in progress, we will have seen much more investment by the end of this year and next year so that Kazakhstan could fulfill the arrangements for reducing emissions signed in Paris. This will help in greening Kazakhstan. For Kazakhstan, the green economy issue is very important, as it is not only the issue of environment, but competitiveness as well," Agris Preimanis added.

As previously reported, the ceremony of signing several important international agreements and memorandums between the Kazakh Energy Ministry, financial institutions and investors in the energy sector and renewable energy sources with participation of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, Bakytzhan Sagintayev, was held today.

In particular, a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation and support for developing the use of renewable energy sources in Kazakhstan was signed between the Ministry of Energy of Kazakhstan and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The financial institution is obliged to allocate up to $250 million for RES projects with additional $480MM from the other international financial organizations. As a result, it will be possible to invest in over 500MW of renewable energy resources in Kazakhstan.