EBRD helps to consolidate Kazakhstan’s power system

This article is brought to you in association with EBRD.

• EBRD and Canada to provide a €267 million financing package for KEGOC
• Project to support the integration power supply systems in Kazakhstan
• Greater energy security, grid reliability and integration of renewables

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is contributing to greater energy security in Kazakhstan and helping to improve the reliability of its power supply system by arranging €267 million in financing for the Kazakhstan Electricity Grid Operating Company (KEGOC).

The financial package consists of a Bank loan of up to €252 million (in Kazakhstan tenge equivalent) and a concessional loan of €15 million from the government of Canada under the High Impact Partnership on Climate Action.

It will allow KEGOC, which operates more than 27,800 km of overhead transmission lines across Kazakhstan, to construct around 600 kilometres of 500kV of transmission infrastructure and to facilitate integration of the West Kazakhstan Power System into the country’s Unified Power System.  

The project is part of the EBRD’s efforts to help Kazakhstan implement its long-term decarbonisation strategy to achieve carbon neutrality in its power sector by 2060. It will improve power supply for the population in western Kazakhstan and facilitate the integration of up to 12 GW of renewables by 2030 across the country.

It will also help address the historical division of Kazakhstan’s power grid into three separate electricity systems. In 2004, the EBRD helped to connect the northern and southern energy systems, but West Kazakhstan Power System still operates in isolation.

The funds will go towards constructing the of 500kV Karabatan-Ulke power line (along the Atyrau-Aktobe motorway) and the 500 kV Karabatan substation and expanding the switchyards at the Karabatan (220 kV) and Ulke (500 kV) substations. The new infrastructure will strengthen domestic interconnections and enhance the reliability of power supply in western Kazakhstan.  

The project is expected to reduce annual CO2 emissions by more than 200,000 tonnes. It is supported by grant funding from the government of Japan.

The Bank will also provide KEGOC with technical assistance to pilot integration of digital technologies into the grid, strengthen the company’s resilience to potential cyberattacks and introduce a new gender-responsive training.

To date, the EBRD has invested more than €10.4 billion in 332 projects in Kazakhstan, with most of those funds supporting private entrepreneurship.