The 290 MW solar capacity to be tendered in 2018 is the first big step toward’s Kazakhstan’ target of reaching nearly 1 GW within 3 years. At the end of 2017, operational solar energy capacity of Kazakhstan was only 58 MW. By the end of 2020, the country wants to scale it up to 960 MW.

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Kazakhstan has invited interested renewable energy players to participate in a 1 GW auction, it intends to tender over the course of 2018. Solar’s share will be 290 MW, while wind power has bagged the lion’s share with 620 MW. The remaining 75 MW will come from hydropower and 15 MW from biomass.

The country announced to launch an international auction system for renewable energies with 1 GW capacity earlier this year (see 1 GW Renewables Auction In Kazakhstan).

The auction schedule for the project was also published. For solar power stations (SPS), 10 MW for the so-called North and West Zone will be auctioned on May 28, 2018. It will be followed by 20 MW and 50 MW tenders to built in the South Zone on June 6, 2018 and June 7, 2018, respectively.

In the autumn cycle, 30 MW of solar power capacity will be auctioned on October 8, 2018 for the West Zoned; another 30 MW for the South Zone is scheduled for October 17, 2018. The largest solar power capacity of 150 MW is slated to be auctioned on October 18, 2018 for the South Zone.

Details about the auction process are available on the website of the Ministry of Energy.

At the end of 2017, Kazakhstan’s total operating renewable energy capacity was 336 MW. With hydro looming large at 171 MW and wind with 107 MW share, solar energy made up only 58 MW of the total. Kazakhstan aims to increase the share of renewable energy in the overall energy mix to 3% by 2020, 10% by 2030 and 50% by 2050.

Kazakhstan wants to have 17 power plants with a total capacity of 960 MW up and running by 2020. In 2018, it targets to grid-connect 10 renewable energy facilities with a cumulative capacity of 123 MW.