BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 24. Kazakhstan’s
renewable energy sector is expanding rapidly, with the share of
renewables in the country’s electricity mix approaching 8% as new
wind and solar capacity comes online and grid infrastructure is
upgraded.
This was stated by the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of
Kazakhstan.
According to the Ministry, over the past six years, the share of
electricity generated from renewable energy sources (RES) has
increased fourfold, from around 2% to nearly 8%.
The Ministry notes that RES accounted for 7% of total
electricity generation at the end of 2025, producing 8.6 billion
kWh out of approximately 123.1 billion kWh generated nationwide.
With additional capacity commissioned in 2026, the current share is
approaching 8%.
The expansion has been supported by government policy measures,
renewable energy auctions, investment attraction, and the
commissioning of new generating capacity. Kazakhstan currently has
172 RES facilities with a combined capacity of more than 3.8 GW.
The portfolio includes 71 wind farms, 54 solar power plants, 44
hydropower plants and three biogas facilities.
In 2025, renewable facilities generated 8.6 billion kWh,
equivalent to approximately 8.6 TWh and around 7% of Kazakhstan’s
total electricity generation. During the year, nine new RES
facilities with a combined capacity of 503.5 MW were commissioned.
These included five wind farms totaling 387 MW, three solar plants
totaling 90 MW, and one hydropower plant of 26 MW. The expansion
has continued in 2026. Another 10 RES facilities with a total
capacity of 245 MW are planned for launch, including four wind
farms, five solar plants and one hydropower plant.
As of mid-August, seven facilities totaling 212 MW had already
been commissioned, meaning approximately 87% of the planned 2026
capacity has entered operation. Renewable electricity generation is
expected to reach 8.8 billion kWh by the end of the year.
The project pipeline extends considerably beyond these
additions. Approximately 100 projects with a combined capacity of
3.6 GW are planned for implementation, while another 4 GW of
large-scale RES projects are under development, including 1 GW of
projects with energy storage systems. The growing volume of
variable renewable generation is also increasing the importance of
transmission infrastructure and energy storage.
In an exclusive interview with Trend, EBRD Director and Head of Energy Eurasia Sule
Kılıc said the bank has mobilized 4.2 billion euros for Central
Asia’s energy sector and financed more than 6.5 GW of installed
renewable energy capacity in the region.
"We are the largest investors in renewable energy in Central
Asia, having financed more than 6.5 gigawatts of installed
renewable capacity to date and mobilised 4.2 billion euros for the
region’s energy sector," Kılıc said.
According to her, the EBRD’s involvement goes beyond renewable
generation to include modernization of electricity grids, which is
necessary to integrate growing volumes of solar and wind power into
national systems.
For Kazakhstan, the bank’s key partners include national grid
operator KEGOC. Since the 1990s, the EBRD has supported seven KEGOC
projects, most recently the Integration of the West Zone Project,
which connects the previously isolated western power zone with the
rest of the country through more than 600 kilometres of
high-voltage transmission lines. Kılıc also said the EBRD is
considering projects under Kazakhstan’s National Project for
Modernisation of Electricity and Municipal Infrastructure.
A major new investment platform was launched in April 2026, when
the EBRD and Kazakhstan signed a memorandum of understanding on the
Just Energy Transition Investment Platform (QaJET). The platform is
expected to mobilize up to 20 billion euros to deploy 10 GW of
renewable capacity by 2035.
The first project under the platform is the 1-GW Mirny Wind
project, developed by TotalEnergies and local partners. The project
includes a 300-MW battery energy storage system with 600 MWh
capacity. "The Bank mobilised around $550 million for the project.
The inclusion of the battery storage component is a critical
element in ensuring the sustainable integration of the project into
Kazakhstan’s energy system," Kılıc said.
International companies are already playing a significant role
in Kazakhstan’s renewable energy expansion, including
TotalEnergies, China Power, Masdar and China Energy. Their
participation is bringing additional capital and technologies into
a sector where the development of generation capacity increasingly
needs to be accompanied by investment in grids and storage.
Trend’s
calculations show that the 212 MW of renewable capacity already
commissioned in 2026 represents approximately 87% of the 245 MW
planned for the full year. At the same time, the projected 8.8
billion kWh of renewable generation in 2026 would be about 2.3%
higher than the 8.6 billion kWh generated in 2025. The combination
of new generation, transmission upgrades, and storage is important
for Kazakhstan’s longer-term energy targets. The country aims to
increase the share of renewable energy to 15% by 2030 and up to 50%
by 2050, including alternative energy sources.
The EBRD’s regional approach indicates that achieving these
targets will depend not only on adding wind and solar capacity, but
also on expanding the infrastructure needed to move and balance
that electricity. For Kazakhstan, the parallel development of
generation, high-voltage transmission and battery storage is
therefore becoming a central part of the transition toward a more
diversified power system.
