Kazakhstan to build 34 green-power stations by 2020

Kazakhstan is increasing investment in the alternative energy sector as it looks to lessen dependence on oil and gas.
Thirty-four green power generation projects will be implemented throughout the vast country, the Kazakh ministry of industry and new technologies said in a statement published on its web site on Thursday.
The plans expand upon the announcement delivered earlier this month, when oversight for the alternative energy sector was moved from the environment ministry to the ministry of industry and new technologies (MINT).
The 34 projects will be a mix of wind, hydropower, and solar stations. According to the document, 13 of the projects will be wind energy plants which are expected to generate 1,081 megaWatts (MW) of power. Seventeen hydropower plants will be built, which will generate 205.45 MW of energy. Four solar stations will produce 76 MW.
The bulk of the wind power projects will be built in the Aktobe region and the Zhambyl region. Additional wind power projects will be constructed in the Karaganda and Kostanay province in 2015, with another to be built in the Mangistau province.
The Almaty region will rely extensively on hydropower, with the biggest hydropower station to be built near the Shelek River. Overall, the province will see the construction of 11 more hydropower plants by 2020.
Solar energy projects will be implemented the Kyzylorda, Zhambyl, and Almaty provinces.
Though Kazakhstan is rich in oil and gas, the state has difficulty linking all parts of its enormous territory to its fuel sources in the far west. Thus, southern cities Shymkent and Almaty are heavily reliant on power sources from Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, an arrangement which can occasionally be derailed by political differences.