What are renewable energy sources and how are they developing in the world and in Kazakhstan

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Renewable energy is derived from natural processes such as solar radiation, wind, tides, and geothermal heat, which are inexhaustible;(replenished naturally). Renewable energy sources are environmentally friendly: there is no waste, pollutants into the atmosphere or reservoirs. There are no environmental costs associated with the extraction, processing and transportation of fossil fuels.

Over the past five years, the use of renewable energy sources has become a major trend in the development of global energy. According to a report by the International Renewable Energy Agency, a third of the world's electricity is produced by renewable energy sources. 72% of all energy sources commissioned in 2019 were renewable. Most of this growth came from Asia – 54% of the increase in renewable energy capacity. In the United States and Europe, more fossil-fuel power plants closed than opened during this period.

In Kazakhstan, 14 renewable energy facilities with a total capacity of 450,05 MW were commissioned in the first half of 2020, the amount of attracted investments amounted to 165 billion tenge. During the same period, electricity generation by RES facilities amounted to about 1,433. 56 million kWh. the Increase in electricity generation by RES facilities for the 1st half of 2020 compared to the 1st half of 2019 is 55%.

To date, there are 104 renewable energy facilities in the country with a total capacity of 1500 MW (WPP - 383.9 MW; SES–883.6 MW; HPP – 224.69 MW; Bioes – 7.82 MW). The largest of them are:

WPP-tsatek Green Energy-50 MW (Akmola region);
SES-Saran - 100 MW (Karaganda region);
SES-ENEVERSE KUNKUAT (Almaty region) - 100 MW;
SES-M-KAT GREEN-100 MW (Zhambyl region);
SES-KB ENTERPRISES-100 MW (Akmola region);
SES-Baikonur solar-50 MW (Kyzylorda region).

As for our capital, then the situation is less dynamic: renewable energy is not produced on a large scale, however, there is a plant for the production of photovoltaic modules "Astana Solar", whose goal is the creation of a fully vertically integrated production cycle of photovoltaic modules from production and processing of silicon to build solar panels and other renewable energy facilities non-production.

In General, Kazakhstan is implementing the Concept of transition to a green economy, which defines strategic goals, such as bringing the share of alternative and renewable energy in the country's energy balance to 3% in 2020, to 10% in 2030, and to 50% in 2050, which sounds very good.

However, despite the increase in the number of renewable energy projects, one of the problematic issues in this sector is the relatively high cost of green energy production. However, it is worth noting that there is a tendency to reduce the cost of technology. For example, solar panels have become 90% cheaper since the end of 2009, and wind turbines have fallen in price by 55-60% since 2010.

Another obstacle to the full - scale implementation of renewable energy projects in the country is the relatively high percentage of borrowed funds for the implementation of these projects. In developed countries, financing of "green" projects is carried out on a long-term basis at 1-3%, while in Kazakhstan the loan rate exceeds 10%. Given that in some cases, the payback period for renewable energy facilities reaches 10-15 years. The total cost of such interest is very high.

Another important issue in the development of green energy is the instability of sources. Objects such as the solar and wind farms are dependent on weather conditions. This leads to errors in forecasting electricity production and creates an imbalance between supply and demand in the electricity market. To solve the problem of imbalance, additional reserve power generation capacity is needed, which is also a significant factor in achieving strategic goals in the development of renewable energy sources.

However, despite the above and other existing problems in this sector, significant measures are being taken to develop renewable energy.

We, in turn, are interested in the development of this industry and are open to proposals and further joint actions aimed at the development and implementation of renewable energy projects.

Today, the system of state support for the development of renewable energy is fixed at the legislative level. The state creates a favorable investment climate for the development of the economy and encourages investment in the creation of new, expansion and renewal of existing production facilities using modern technologies.

To attract private investment in the renewable energy sector in Kazakhstan, the law on RES support provides for the following measures to support investors:

investors are guaranteed to purchase the entire volume of RES energy at auction prices for 15 years when entering into a purchase agreement with the RES support Settlement and financial center (RFC);
auction prices are subject to annual indexation starting from the second year of electricity generation: 70% for changes in the exchange rate of the national currency to convertible currencies and 30% for the consumer price index;
RES producers are exempt from paying for electricity transmission services from RES;
renewable energy producers are given priority dispatching when transmitting electric energy.

Detailed information on investment preferences for the renewable energy sector is reflected in the investor's Guide to the implementation of renewable energy projects in Kazakhstan, which can be found on the websites of the Ministry of energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan and LLP "Settlement and financial center for support of renewable energy sources".

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