Astana, Kazakhstan, Jan.27
By Daniyar Mukhtarov - Trend:
Kazakhstan exported over 2 billion kilowatt hours of electricity as of 2014, the country's Energy Minister Vladimir Shkolnik said.
He made the remarks while speaking during the 'government hour' in Majlis (lower house of the parliament) Jan.26.
"Kazakhstan's electricity export stood at 2.9 billion kilowatt hours as of 2014, while the electricity import totaled 644 million kilowatt hours," Shkolnik said.
The minister added that Kazakhstan plans to start electricity export to neighboring China.
"China is considered as the prospective direction which is very important for expanding the electricity export potential of our country," said the minister. "We are talking about exporting up to 6 gigawatts of electricity to China."
Shkolnik added that the export to China will be possible after the construction of a new power transmission line from Ekibastuz (north of Kazakhstan, 300 kilometers from Astana) to Hami substation in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China (Chinese region bordering Kazakhstan).
He said if the sides agree on the electricity price and its export volume, it will be a good source for replenishing Kazakhstan's budget.
The minister said the planned volume of investments in the development of the electricity field in Kazakhstan in 2015 will be equal to $178 billion KZT ($1=184.1 KZT).
Shkolnik added that the annual demand for the growth of human capacity for fulfilling the tasks in this field is equal to 6,500 people.
"Thus, every year, 6,500 specialists should come to work in this field in order to ensure its development and reliable work," said the minister.
He added that currently, over 114,000 people work in the electricity sphere of Kazakhstan.
Edited by CN
