Russia Not To Participate in Constructing Thermal Power Plants — Sklyar

Russia will no longer participate in the construction of three planned thermal power plants in Kazakhstan, Deputy Prime Minister Roman Sklyar confirmed at a government press briefing, Orda.kz reports.

Initially, the Russian energy company Inter RAO was expected to implement the projects, backed by preferential financing.

However, that plan has since changed.

Inter RAO was supposed to receive export financing, but unfortunately, they were unable to do so, so a decision was made to build them independently. Yesterday, the media reported that the active phase of construction of the Kokshetau TPP had begun, with Sumruq-Energo acting as the customer. The same will happen with the stations in Semey and Oskemen. If we receive proposals from Russian colleagues for financing, Samruq-Energo may choose them as partners. There will be no obstacles here. This is being done so that the station itself, using the capacity market alone, can offer a tariff that does not exceed the existing limits, Sklyar said.

Sklyar did not disclose the full cost of the projects, but estimated expenses at around $2 to $2.5 million per gigawatt of capacity.

Plans for the joint development of the three power stations were initially announced in November 2023 by Deputy Prime Minister Serik Zhumangarin during the XIX Interregional Forum of Cross-Border Cooperation between Kazakhstan and Russia.

Original Author: Ilya Astakhov