Kazakhstan in talks with Russia about electricity imports to cover possible shortage

NUR-SULTAN. March 25 (Interfax) - Kazakhstan is negotiating an electricity import schedule with Russia in order to prevent a possible power shortage owing to the wear and tear of the local power plants, Energy Minister Bolat Akchulakov said on Friday at a briefing in Nur-Sultan.

"We are now having talks with Russia about planned imports of electricity. We are negotiating the volume of electricity imports," the minister said at the briefing.

The minister said that Kazakhstan's power plants are rather old, and the risk of industrial accidents is rather high. Additionally, owing to the current situation in Ukraine, it has become more difficult to import spare parts and invite specialists from the country.

"In order to avoid such events, we need to think about planned imports. However, there is no shortage of electricity at the moment," Akchulakov said.

The minister said earlier that there had been a shortage of electricity in Kazakhstan since June 2021, which was overcome after the republic received about 300 million kWh from Russia. The shortage was mainly caused by the operation of illegal crypto-miners and emergencies at Kazakhstan's power plants.

Kazakhstan plans to keep production in 2022 at last year's level, or 114.4 billion kWh.