Kazakhstan Holds First-Ever Renewable Energy Auction

At the second annual renewable energy summit in Astana, Kazakhstan, the First Vice Minister of Energy Makhambet Dosmukhambetov announced the results of the first round of renewable energy auctions held in Kazakhstan from May 23 to June 7, 2018. This was the first energy auction ever held in Kazakhstan.

According to Mr. Dosmukhambetov, the auctions attracted "competitive bids for a total capacity of 960 MW… which resulted in a 20% reduction of tariffs for wind power, a 25% reduction for solar power, and 23% reduction for small-hydro power stations." In the lead-up to the first round of auctions, the Financial Settlements Center of RE (FSC), the organization that acts as the central buyer for all renewable energy produced in Kazakhstan, used the Renewable Energy (RE) Data Explorer to support the auctions process.

With guidance from NREL, FSC evaluated wind and solar potential and estimated the range of capacity factors for various areas that were identified as potentially attractive to RE developers. The Technical Potential tool and the recently launched Wind Data Download tool in the RE Data Explorer for Central Asia were used to conduct this analysis.

The results were shared with potential investors in order to improve transparency, access to high-quality data, and ultimately to help attract lower prices in the RE auctions.