21 August 2025, 08:28
By order of the Head of State Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, work continues in Kazakhstan on the systemic modernization of the fuel and energy complex. A reliable, self-sufficient, and modern energy system will become a solid foundation for the stable economic growth of the country and for improving the well-being of every citizen.
The main task in the electric power industry is to ensure the country’s energy independence and fully cover the growing needs of the economy. Within the framework of the President’s instructions, an ambitious goal has been set — to commission at least 14 gigawatts of new generating capacity in the next five years. This work is being carried out in several directions: modernization of existing stations, construction of new generating facilities, as well as the development of hydro and renewable energy sources.
In 2023 and 2024, 1.3 gigawatts of new electric capacity have already been commissioned. In 2025, another 621.5 megawatts are being introduced, and for 2026, 2,648.5 megawatts are planned. To achieve these goals, active work is underway on the construction of new strategic facilities. In the Turkestan region, a project is being implemented to build a power plant based on a combined-cycle gas turbine with a capacity of up to 1000 MW. In Kyzylorda, construction and installation works are underway for the erection of a new CHP plant with a capacity of 240 MW.
In his Address “Fair Kazakhstan: law and order, economic growth, public optimism” the Head of State Kassym-Jomart Tokayev emphasized the need to solve priority infrastructure problems.
The issues of reducing the wear of CHPs are under the special control of the Government. A large-scale repair campaign is being implemented: in 2025, the overhaul of 10 power units, 63 boilers, and 39 turbines is planned. Currently, work is underway on 5 power units, 30 boilers, and 19 turbines. Repairs of 4 power units, 15 boilers, and 9 turbines have been completed. The measures being taken are already yielding tangible results: the average wear of CHPs in the country has been reduced from 64% to 61% thanks to modernization and equipment renewal.
Following the results of the past heating season, 9 CHPs moved from the red zone of high accident risk to the yellow, 3 CHPs — from the yellow to the green zone. At present, 10 CHPs are in the red zone, 17 in the yellow, and 10 in the green. The program for modernization of CHPs will continue on a systematic basis with the aim of reducing wear annually and transferring facilities from risk zones into safe operation.
As part of the implementation of the President’s instructions, in December 2024, the Government approved the National Project “Modernization of the Energy and Utilities Sectors” (hereinafter — the National Project), which launched long-term preferential financing of a large-scale repair campaign for utility infrastructure. The National Project includes the development of generating capacities, improvement of natural monopoly sectors, support for domestic producers and socially vulnerable groups, as well as the introduction of digital technologies for process automation. More than 200 infrastructure companies are involved in the process. A key indicator is the reduction of facility wear to 40%.
According to the National Project, about 6.8 trillion tenge of investments are being attracted for the modernization of 86,000 km of engineering networks. Among them: 1,600 km of heating networks; 77,600 km of power supply networks; 4,700 km of water supply networks; 2,600 km of sewerage networks. This will reduce the number of accidents by 27%. For the modernization and construction of new power generation, investments in the amount of 6.2 trillion tenge will be attracted, which will reduce plant wear by 15% and introduce additional generating sources with a total volume of 7.3 GW.
Today, 55 power-generating organizations operate in the country, of which 19 plants have wear exceeding 65%. The volume of electricity generation is 113 billion kWh, while electricity consumption is higher — 115 billion kWh. Thus, according to preliminary forecasts, for the implementation of the National Project over 5 years, it is necessary to attract about 13 trillion tenge of investments into the energy and utilities sectors.
At the same time, it should be noted that the main share of funds will be attracted from private financial institutions (second-tier banks — STBs, international financial organizations — IFIs, the Industrial Development Fund — IDF).
In general, the following financing mechanisms are provided: direct financing (DBK, STBs, IFIs, IDF); co-financing; bonds; budget loans; capital of private monopolists; leasing financing. An individual financing model is selected for each enterprise. To increase the investment attractiveness of the National Project, changes have been made to the tariff methodology, allowing for the return of investments and guaranteeing the necessary levels of cash flow.
In addition, the possibility of subsidizing the interest rate on loans is being worked out, which will reduce the impact on tariffs. In order to ease the tariff burden for socially vulnerable groups, targeted social assistance will be provided to reimburse the costs of paying for utilities. Along with this, 48 subjects of natural monopolies (96 projects) with a high level of asset wear, having confirmed documents and ready for financing, have been identified for a total amount of 144.5 billion tenge for the repair and replacement of 1,347 km of utility networks and 3,047 units of equipment.
As part of the modernization and construction of energy and utilities infrastructure, it is planned to maximally involve domestic production. Through the implementation of the National Project, full loading of Kazakhstani enterprises producing utility sector products is planned. It is also envisaged to build another 27 production facilities with an investment volume of about 190 billion tenge and the creation of 3,500 new jobs. The volume of products from domestic enterprises involved will amount to about 4.4 trillion tenge. This approach will not only increase internal competitiveness but also reduce dependence on imports and strengthen the positions of “local” enterprises in the market as a whole.
The implementation of the National Project provides for measures to support socially vulnerable groups, procurement rules using a single platform to combine all regulated purchases, introduction of new digital technologies within the framework of process automation for modernization of the information and communication infrastructure of the system operator, etc.
In the Address, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev emphasized the urgency of the task of further developing the oil and gas chemical industry. As part of the implementation of the Head of State’s instructions to transition from raw material exports to the production of goods with high added value, a program for the development of the oil and gas chemical industry is being implemented. The total volume of investments in six major projects amounts to about 15 billion US dollars.
Expected results: creation of 3,500 permanent and 16,000 temporary jobs; formation of a strategic cluster for industrial growth and decarbonization of the economy; expansion of the range of high-tech products (butadiene, urea, terephthalic acid, polyethylene, polypropylene, etc.).
Key projects: a polypropylene plant with a capacity of 500,000 tons per year — commissioned; a polyethylene plant with a capacity of 1.25 million tons per year — construction work is underway at the site, commissioning is scheduled for 2029. Promising projects have also been developed for the production of butadiene, urea, terephthalic acid, and other products in demand in agriculture, the automotive and light industries.
The center of the cluster will be the SEZ “National Industrial Petrochemical Technopark” (area — more than 3,600 ha), providing participants with access to industrial sites, engineering communications, and tax preferences. To date, 18 participating companies are registered in the SEZ.
In the gas industry, the strategic task at the current stage of development is to expand the resource base of commercial gas. As the Head of State noted in the Address, it is necessary to expand capacities and diversify gas transportation routes. One of the Government’s top priorities remains ensuring gas supply to the population and the economy. Last year, a number of gas fields were put into operation, and the development of new gas deposits with a total production volume of one billion cubic meters per year is also planned.
At the same time, the President instructed the Government, until the full commissioning of these projects, to rationally distribute gas supplies to the domestic market and to take a balanced approach to the conversion of CHPs and household consumers from coal to gas. The Government was instructed to accelerate the construction of gas processing plants in Zhanaozen, Kashagan, and Karachaganak. In the shortest possible time, effective incentives should be introduced to ensure the return of investments, including the provision of adequate tariffs and wholesale prices.
The Government’s work, carried out within the framework of the President’s tasks, is synchronized with the “Comprehensive Plan for the Development of the Gas Industry until 2029”, approved this year. By order of the Head of State, the construction of large gas processing plants has been intensified:
At the Kashagan field, a GPP project with a capacity of 1 bcm/year is being implemented with a completion date in 2026, and a GPP project with a capacity of 2.5 bcm/year is being developed.
At the Karachaganak field, the construction of a GPP with a capacity of 4 bcm/year is planned, with commissioning in 2031–2032 (production of commercial gas — 3.3 bcm/year).
In the city of Zhanaozen, the construction of a new GPP with a capacity of 900 million m³/year has begun.
As part of the Roadmap for increasing the gas resource base, the Rozhkovskoye, Urikhtau Vostochny, and Anabay fields have already been put into industrial operation.
In addition, in May 2025, construction and installation works began on the second line of the Beineu-Bozoi-Shymkent Main Gas Pipeline, which will significantly strengthen the energy security of the southern regions and the transit potential of the country.
As for providing the population with gas, today the level of gasification in Kazakhstan is 62.4%, which gives 12.6 million people out of 20.2 million population access to gas. This is 2.4% higher than in 2023. In 2024, more than 4,000 km of gas pipelines were built and 93 projects were implemented. In 2025, another 77 projects are planned to be completed, providing gas connections for more than 300,000 people.
An essential area of modernization is the introduction of modern digital solutions. As part of the implementation of the Head of State’s instructions, artificial intelligence technologies are being actively applied in the sector.
In the electric power industry, AI-powered drones help promptly diagnose power transmission lines, detect defects, and prevent failures.
In the heat and power industry, robotic complexes based on acoustic resonance scan the condition of pipes from the inside, which makes it possible to carry out targeted and efficient repairs while reducing tariff pressure.
In the gas sector, an AI assistant successfully operates, automatically recognizing meter readings from photographs, simplifying the process for consumers.
Along with global projects, current tasks are also being solved to supply key sectors of the economy. Thus, the issue of providing the road construction industry with domestically produced bitumen has been fully resolved in the country. Through the modernization of four existing plants, their total capacity has been increased to 1.52 million tons per year, which fully covers the needs of the domestic market.
In May 2025, the modernization of Caspi Bitum LLP JV was completed, which made it possible to increase production capacity from 50 to 67 thousand tons per month. Thus, the country fully provides for the supply of bitumen to the domestic market. If necessary, imports of up to 500 thousand tons will also be ensured.
On July 21, 2025, the Government approved the Concept for the Development of the Oil Refining Industry for 2025–2040. This document defines the strategic course towards deep hydrocarbon processing and the production of high value-added products.
All the comprehensive work is aimed at achieving the main goal set by the President — building a strong and diversified economy, based on a reliable, modern, and technologically advanced fuel and energy complex, working for the benefit of every citizen of Kazakhstan.
#Energy #Heat supply #President's instruction
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