Kazakhstan plans to build 32 small hydroelectric power plants at water reservoirs across the country to expand distributed power generation, the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation said.
State water management enterprise Kazvodkhoz has approved a development roadmap aimed at integrating electricity generation into existing irrigation and water supply infrastructure.
The project will be implemented in three phases. The initial phase covers five existing dams, including the Samarkand reservoir in the Karaganda region, the Kargala reservoir in the Aktobe region, the Karakol reservoir in the Abai region, and the Karatomar and Verkhne-Tobol reservoirs in the Kostanay region. These pilot plants will have a combined capacity of about 9 megawatts, primarily designed to supply power to nearby settlements and the hydro facilities themselves.
Under the second phase, generation equipment will be installed at 18 additional sites with a total capacity of 25 megawatts. The third phase will encompass nine locations, including six newly planned reservoirs in the Abai and East Kazakhstan regions, integrating hydropower equipment into their initial engineering designs.
Water Resources and Irrigation Minister Nurzhan Nurzhigitov said technical documentation and financing models for the first two stages are currently under development. Kazvodkhoz already operates three small hydropower plants with a combined capacity of approximately 5 megawatts across the North Kazakhstan and Karaganda regions, as well as on the transboundary Khorgos River.
