I was really pleased to take part in this year’s Qazak Green Fest, organised by the Qazaq Green Association. They get a really great group of energy professionals together, from government, regulatory bodies, ‘traditional’ power generators and renewable energy companies.
There are many big challenges to face and in my opening remarks I spoke about some of the lessons the UK has learned and the approaches we have taken as we decarbonised faster than any other G7 country. The share of renewables in our power generation has gone from 7% in 2010 to almost 50% today. Two key policy elements to make our system more resilient have been:
- to develop 10GW of high voltage interconnectors with France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Norway and Denmark to allow ‘balancing’ and to enable us to buy electricity if we need it at the best price. We are also now undertaking our biggest grid modernisation in decades.
- as well as big top-down projects in offshore wind, where we have 7 of the 10 largest wind farms in the world, we have also strongly encouraged ‘bottom up’ microgrids and renewables. I gave the example of the Orkney Islands, a community of 22k people across 20 islands 16km from the Scottish mainland, who are now 100% self-sufficient in renewable energy from wind and tidal power, and are generating green hydrogen to power the ferry to the mainland. For Kazakhstan, with many small and isolated communities in villages across their continent-sized country, small scale renewables may be a better solution.
I also mentioned the importance of looking at energy and water together, not just in terms of big hydro projects, but also in terms of resource efficiency, a crucial element in cutting emissions. I gave the example of Shymkent water utility, which over 15 years has used EBRD loans to upgrade its technology, move to 100% metering for water use, and has cut per capita water use to about 1/4 of what it was. It also generates 60% of its own electricity from biogas and treats 100% of its waste water, which is then used to irrigate 21 km2 of agricultural land. It has reduced GHG emissions by 89%. A brilliant example!
This year’s festival, under the slogan "Taking up the challenges of the present—together towards a sustainable future," brings together key figures and stakeholders to address critical issues in the renewable energy sector
Join us as we explore how QazaqGreenFest 2024 is shaping Kazakhstan’s commitment to a sustainable future and its leadership in renewable energy in Central Asia. Don’t miss the insights and discussions that will influence the trajectory of Kazakhstan's energy landscape!
Report by The Astana Times:
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