Does it make sense to build small hydropower plants on the rivers of Kazakhstan in 2025?

On May 20, the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan published information on the growth of electricity generated by renewable energy sources. Against the background of scandals with the construction of small hydroelectric power stations on the Koksu River, the publication Orda.kz paid special attention to hydroelectric power plants. And we also talked with experts about whether it makes sense to build small hydropower plants at all, namely, they primarily relate to renewable energy in modern Kazakhstan.

They don’t seem to exist

So, according to the Ministry of Energy for 2024, all renewable sources of electricity accounted for 6.43% of the total. Compared to 2023, this is about 0.5% more. The distribution by type of power plants there is as follows: 

• 63 wind power plants — 1,570.05 MW;
• 46 solar power plants — 1,222. 61 MW;
• 42 hydroelectric power plants — 287.685 MW;
• three biogas stations — 1.77 MW.

Although clarification is needed from the HPP — this list does not include large power plants built in Soviet times: Bukhtarminskaya, Shulbinskaya, Kapchagayskaya, etc.

As explained in the Ministry of Energy, these 42 stations include only small hydropower plants built before 2016, and 15 hydropower plants built after 2016. Two more are planned to be built in 2025 — the Korinskaya HPP in Zhetysu with a capacity of 26 MW and the Towerergo HPP with a capacity of two megawatts in Turkestan. The Ministry of Energy, by the way, did not mention the Verkhne-Talaptinskaya HPP at Koksu at all, which also seemed to be going to be launched in 2025.

At the same time, there is no concept of “small hydropower plants” in modern Kazakh legislation. “It used to be, but then it was removed,” the Ministry of Energy explained to us.

But at the same time, they clarified: large hydroelectric power plants in the Republic of Kazakhstan have not been put into operation for 13 years — the last one was Moynakskaya on the Charyn River, which was launched in 2012. So everything that was introduced after can be conditionally considered, if not small, then medium.

The countdown from 2016 is not for nothing. It was then that a law was passed providing preferential conditions for renewable energy sources. At the same time, small hydroelectric power plants disappeared from the documents, while remaining in reality. And from 2023, as one of the experts explained to us, problems began with the use of those very benefits. Because of this, the question arises: does it make sense to build small hydropower plants in Kazakhstan in 2025?

Unfulfilled plans

Our experts were Doctor of Technical Sciences Marat Koshumbaev and representative of Hydraulic Engineering Company LLP Alexander Kim.

Both experts also point out that small hydropower plants among renewable energy power plants are considered the most environmentally friendly. Even compared to wind and solar. Of course, if you build them in compliance with all modern conservation technologies. And in the case of Kazakhstan, it is also a reliable anti-settlement protection. Because, as Marat Koshubaev says, all mountain rivers of the Republic of Kazakhstan are potentially mudslide-prone. The recent sharp rise in water at the Coke plant, just in the area of the hydroelectric power station under construction, has clearly demonstrated this.

“It is impossible to install a coke-fired power plant using the same technology as at the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP, only in a reduced form. I studied this problem and suggested building damless hydroelectric power stations. So that the dams do not interfere with the fish, so that residents can approach the water, so that there is no flooding,” says Marat Koshumbayev.

According to the expert, a large area of flooding during the construction of a hydroelectric power station can lead to waterlogging of the territory. Which, by the way, is exactly what activists are afraid of in the case of the construction of a hydroelectric power station on Koksu. Although the creation of a power plant with relatively little flooding and a bypass channel, Koshumbayev also considers it acceptable. At the same time, since the middle of the twentieth century, projects of completely damless hydroelectric power stations have been developed in the world, when the turbines are either directly in the riverbed, or, for example, on a ship moored near the shore. But mostly their design capacity is not particularly large.

By the way, about the twentieth century. Both experts recalled that plans for the active construction of small hydropower plants in Kazakhstan were in Soviet times. Some of them even appeared in the Kazakh SSR, but to a large extent the plans remained plans. Although, as Alexander Kim explained, just since Soviet times, the concept of building small hydroelectric power stations has become this: they were created on mountain rivers near settlements or enterprises to which it was difficult to pull power lines. The cost of building small hydroelectric power plants was not very much, and the economic exhaust from the electricity generated by them was noticeable.

Marat Koshumbaev described an example from the 1970s:

“There was not a very large village in the Dzhambul region — about 25 houses. And there were no other villages nearby for hundreds of kilometers. But at the same time there was a very large sheep farm that needed electricity. They had a windmill, but it did not provide enough energy. And then a small hydroelectric power station was built for them. A bigger reservoir was made on a small river at the top, and a smaller one at the bottom. From the big one, the water was dumped down and then the windmill went up. This hydroelectric power station produced about 200-300 kilowatts, but it was enough for the village.”

Alexander Kim says that in the USSR the classification of small hydropower plants was different from that in independent Kazakhstan. At the time of the Union, a hydroelectric power station of up to 35 MW was considered small. And according to it, all power plants built since 2016 could be classified as small.

“We also suggested that small hydropower plants include power plants with the same capacity. But as a result, our legislators have determined the capacity of small hydropower plants up to 10 MW.”

According to the new classification, only 10 out of 15 HPPs built since 2016 can be classified as small. And since we are following the history of the Koksu hydroelectric power station, neither Verkhne-Talaptinskaya nor both Mine stations fall under the post-Soviet classification of small hydroelectric power stations. Because their capacity exceeds 10 MW — 16 MW in one case and 42 MW in the second. Although in a conversation with journalists and public figures in both cases, developers called power plants small.

They’re small

According to Alexander Kim, the system in which small hydroelectric power plants supplied electricity directly to the consumer operated until July 1, 2023.

“This scheme worked and was effective. But in 2023, Kazakhstan introduced a single buyer. And all the benefits provided by the law to support renewable energy in terms of small hydropower plants were actually excluded. Today, most of the opportunities for the sale of electricity provided for by the current laws on the electric power industry and on the support of renewable energy sources do not work for small hydropower plants.”

Under the current system, small hydropower plants, like all other power plants, either sell energy to a single buyer or to energy supply organizations. They must sell at approved marginal tariffs. And there is one catch with them:

“Marginal tariffs were approved even for large HPPs, and the specifics of the operation of small HPPs were not taken into account. The labor costs per kilowatt at the huge Shulba hydroelectric power station and at some small one will be approximately the same, but the difference in the volumes produced is enormous. And they cannot be put in the same row,” Kim believes.

According to the expert, the marginal tariff for large and small hydropower plants should be different, taking into account the characteristics of the latter. According to Alexander Kim, they are currently preparing amendments to the legislation, which they plan to send to the Ministry of Energy. They will concern not only small hydropower plants, but also all renewable energy sources in general. Their essence is as follows:

“Energy transmission organizations need to purchase electricity to compensate for losses in the networks. Now they buy it from a single buyer at the tariff that is valid for wholesale consumers. We suggest that energy transmission organizations buy this energy from HPPs and other RES at the same tariff, which will also be set by a single buyer. Because there is such an opportunity. Nothing will change for energy transmission companies, but for small hydropower plants it will be a real support.”

Although, as Alexander Kim explained, the legislation still leaves them some opportunity to sell electricity directly to consumers. But it is difficult to use it.

“We can sell electricity to miners, but this scheme is not working. Because miners do not need electricity in such a small amount — it is not profitable for them. Especially if small hydroelectric power plants are located far from large settlements, where it is difficult for them to carry their equipment. There is an opportunity to sell energy to wholesale consumers — for example, large enterprises. But, again, they are not interested in buying it from us because of the small volumes, and therefore they do not want to contact us.”

Journalist Orda.kz I asked Alexander Kim directly if there is any point in building small hydropower plants in Kazakhstan after July 1, 2023?

“It is profitable to build them in this way — in order to build a station, you need to win the auction and get a certain tariff for electricity, which you will sell if you build a station. Roughly speaking, 40 tenge per kWh. This is a good, very profitable tariff. You will have a long-term contract for the payback of construction, during which this tariff will be valid. And you will pay for the construction. But in the future, the station goes to the free market, and it should sell energy at the marginal tariff,” he replied.

What questions there are about this tariff have already been mentioned above. And from the answer of Alexander Kim, the journalist Orda.kz made the following conclusion: it is possible to build a small hydroelectric power station in Kazakhstan in 2025 if you expect to receive money for its construction, and then turn on the principle “After us, at least the flood”.

Igor Ulitin (Orda.kz )