Kazakhstan to eliminate electricity deficit by end of Q1 2027

ASTANA. Jan 14 (Interfax) - Kazakhstan plans to eliminate its electricity deficit by the end of the first quarter of 2027, Energy Minister Yerlan Akkenzhenov said.

"The commissioning of facilities currently under development will enable us to fully cover the economy's electricity demand and lift Kazakhstan from its status as an energy-deficit country by the end of Q1 2027. By 2029, a stable surplus of both electricity and regulating capacity is expected, creating conditions for increasing the country's export potential," the government's press service quoted Akkenzhenov as saying at a meeting on the development of the power industry.

The Energy Ministry is currently working on 81 projects with total capacity of 15.3 GW and a total investment exceeding 13 trillion tenge. A significant portion of the projects is being implemented through direct attraction of private investments via the electric capacity market mechanism. Overall, by 2035, the commissioning of more than 26 GW of additional generating capacity will be ensured.

The ministry said electricity generation in 2025 reached 123.1 billion kWh against consumption of 124.6 billion kWh. The total installed capacity for the year increased from 25.3 GW to 26.7 GW. The generation mix is still dominated by coal-fired power plants (51.4%), but the share of gas generation (25.6%) and renewable energy sources (13.5%) is growing.

The government said contractors had been selected and implementation had begun for strategically important facilities. These include the Ekibastuz-3 state district power plant (2,640 MW), a new plant in the city of Kurchatov (700 MW), as well as combined heat and power plants in the cities of Kokshetau (240 MW), Semey (360 MW), and Ust-Kamenogorsk (360 MW).

In the long term, until 2035, KEGOC JSC plans to commission 6,659 km of new 220-500 kV power lines and reconstruct 10,591 km of lines.

Samruk-Energy JSC plans to commission facilities with a capacity of 7.4 GW by 2035. Key projects highlighted include the modernization of Almaty-2 CHP plant with commissioning in October 2026, as well as the expansion and reconstruction of Ekibastuz-2 state district power plant, with the commissioning of unit 3 in October 2028 and unit 4 in October 2030.