ASTANA, Kazakhstan, October 25. Swiss know-how can be used in Kazakhstan's petrochemical sector, Ambassador of Switzerland to Kazakhstan Salman Bal told Trend.
As the ambassador noted, Switzerland attracts many international commodity trading companies, but it is not a key player in the big operations of the oil and gas sector.
"Nevertheless, several Swiss companies are working in special niches, for example, delivering laboratory equipment for analysis as well as measurement equipment for oil and gas fields. Swiss technologies and know-how can be used in the petrochemical and chemical sectors in particular," he said.
Speaking about cooperation in the field of green energy, the ambassador noted that Switzerland fully supports the endeavors of Kazakhstan to boost and develop its renewable energy capacities.
"The Republic of Kazakhstan is a member of the Swiss constituency group of the WB/IMF as well as at GEF, the Global Environment Facility. Within these organizations but also within other multilateral entities, green energy cooperation is high on the agenda," he said.
As he added, all in all, the green energy sector is a field in which the Swiss government and Swiss companies are very active.
Switzerland is among the top 3 investors in Kazakhstan, after the Netherlands and the US. The volume of Swiss direct investment in Kazakhstan since 2005 has exceeded $31 billion.
Trade turnover between the two countries in 2022 reached $1.4 billion, an increase of 6.4 percent compared to 2021 ($1.3 billion).
By the end of 2023, there will be 130 renewable energy facilities operating in Kazakhstan with an installed capacity of 2,400 MW (46 WPPs: 958 MW; 44 SPPs: 1148 MW; 37 HPPs: 280 MW; 3 BioPPs: 1.77 MW).
At the end of 2022, the volume of renewable energy production amounted to 5.11 billion kWh (wind farm: 2.4 billion kWh; solar power plant: 1.76 billion kWh; hydroelectric power station: 934 million kWh), or 4.53 percent of the total volume of electrical energy production. In 2023, this figure will reach 5 percent.
Last year, 12 renewable energy facilities were commissioned with a total capacity of 385 MW and a total investment of 180 billion tenge (about $374 million).
In 2023, 15 facilities with a total capacity of 276 MW will be commissioned.
