Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

The share of alternative and renewable energy in the energy basket of Kazakhstan will reach 50 percent by 2050, Minister of Environmental Protection Nurlan Kapparov said at a briefing.

Kapparov said that the share of wind and solar energy resources will increase to 39 percent while the share of nuclear and hydropower plants - 14 percent, and gas stations 16 percent. The remaining 31 percent will come from coal stations.

Kapparov said substantial energy efficiency measures will reduce the production of electricity by 10 percent by 2030.

Earlier, speaking at the Eurasian Media Forum, Kapparov said that Kazakhstan has every condition for a 50-percent transition to renewable energy sources by 2050.

According to a recently adopted concept for a transition to 'green economy', in case of high domestic prices for natural gas, the energy basket of the country will comprise 11 percent of wind and solar energy sources while the share of nuclear power will be 8 percent, hydropower 10 percent, gas 21 percent and coal 49 percent by 2030.

The concept of Kazakhstan's transition to 'green economy' was approved by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev on June 1, 2013.

Considering that climate change is one of the acute global issues today, shifting from hydrocarbon fuels to the use of renewable energy is one of the essential solutions to the problem.

Energy-rich Kazakhstan is currently looking for ways to use renewable energy sources. In late January, an action plan was adopted on the development of renewable energy sources for the period from 2013 to 2020.

Renewable energy, which is commonly called alternative energy, comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are naturally replenished. Renewable energy is an alternative to fossil fuels.

Experts believe that Kazakhstan has to turn to alternative energy sources by 2030, as the traditional sources are being exhausted and their prices are rising. They charge about 20-30 percent of domestically consumed energy can be saved through the use of alternative energy resources.

Given Kazakhstan's natural conditions, it is clear that the most promising alternative energy sector is wind-power generation. Relevant studies conducted in the Kazakh regions showed that wind-power generation has great potential.