Kazakhstan and JelSu Energy to Build 900 MW Hydropower Cascade on Irtysh River
The administration of Kazakhstan’s Abai Region and the energy company JelSu Energy have signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly construct a cascade of hydroelectric power plants on the Irtysh River. The agreement was signed by the regional Governor, Berik Uali, and the Director of JelSu Energy, Adlet Kenzhebekov, during a meeting attended by the chairman of the investor’s board of directors, Shyngys Kulzhanov. The project entails the construction of three facilities – the Belokamenskaya, Akzharskaya, and Izvestkovskaya hydroelectric power plants – with a combined capacity of 900 megawatts.
Implementation of the project is scheduled to proceed in several phases. The initial stage will focus on developing a feasibility study and conducting engineering surveys. Subsequent phases will involve the development of supporting infrastructure and local job creation. The agreement marks the progression of negotiations that have been underway since January, aligned with the national government’s strategy to strengthen energy security and expand renewable energy generation.
Project developers cited the region’s favorable investment climate and significant energy potential as key factors in selecting the site. According to the company, power generation remains a highly prospective sector, and the new capacity on the Irtysh River is expected to stimulate related industries, including agriculture, fisheries, tourism, and specialized technical education. The initiative also aims to attract qualified hydraulic engineering specialists to the region.
The planned installations align with a Soviet-era integrated water resource management scheme for the Irtysh River, which originally envisioned transforming the waterway into a continuous cascade of 16 hydro-engineering complexes, comprising 12 plants in Kazakhstan and four in Russia. The Belokamenskaya, Akzharskaya, and Izvestkovskaya plants were all included in the original Soviet plans. The historical scheme also proposed the Semipalatinsk plant to sit between these new facilities and the existing Shulbinskaya reservoir. Now renamed the Semey hydroelectric power plant, this 300-megawatt project is currently being developed under a bilateral agreement signed between the governments of Kazakhstan and Qatar in Doha on March 20, 2024.
