Kazakhstan reports decline in electricity output due to low temperature rates

Kazakhstan can’t keep up with the necessary level of energy production because of cold weather and failures / Photo: Shutterstock

The production of electricity in Kazakhstan has declined for the second day in a row due to technical failures at power stations and heat distribution networks.

According to KOREM, the operator of the centralized electricity trading market in Kazakhstan, on December 8, the country produced 351.16 million kilowatt-hours of electricity; on December 9, the rate declined to 349.2 million kilowatt hours and then to 340.07 million kilowatt-hours on December 10.

On the other hand, the daily consumption of energy has been increasing in Kazakhstan for the fourth day in a row as many of the country’s regions have reported extremely low temperatures since December 7 (-40 C°). On December 6, daily consumption of electricity within the country was 345.87 million kilowatt hours or almost the same as the production level of 345.44 million kilowatt-hours. On December 7, consumption grew to 355.19 million kilowatt-hours and then to 360.99 million kilowatt-hours on December 8, 361.14 million kilowatt-hours on December 9 and 364.85 million kilowatt-hours on December 10.

Many power stations tried to keep up with the increased consumption and boosted their output during the first days of the cold cyclone encompassing the country’s territory. For instance, on December 6, production surged from 345.44 million kilowatt-hours to 350.75 million kilowatt-hours on December 7 and 351.16 million kilowatt-hours on December 8, before the rate gradually decreased.

Against this difficult situation, the Ministry of Energy reported the discharge of Vice Minister Zhandos Nurmagambetov, who had been responsible for the production of electricity in Kazakhstan since December 13, 2021.

Since December 7, Kazakhstan has reported cold weather up to minus 42°C, which caused a series of failures at power stations and heat distribution networks. This situation has already led to a plunge in indoor temperatures and forced heat stations to raise the thermal regime in some places by switching from coal to heating oil and urgent overhauls. Such situations happened, for instance, in Ekibastuz, Temirtau, Balkhash, Aktau, Ridder and Stepnogorsk.

Kazakhstan Electricity Grid Operation Company (KECOG) estimates that the deficit of power during this winter may be about 1.5 gigawatt hours in December 2023 and 1.4 gigawatts in January 2024. In October, this deficit was just 895 megawatts but in November, it grew to 1.3 gigawatts. KEGOC says that the deficit will decline to 190 megawatts in February 2024. At the same time, Kursiv was told that the company hasn’t considered unit No.1 of the Ekibastuz regional power station No. 1 commissioning, which was rescheduled from December 2023 to the first half of 2024.

Over the period from October 2023 to March 2023, the government expects a deficit of power of 1.61 billion kilowatt-hours, including 375 million kilowatt-hours in December 2023 and 410 million kilowatt-hours in January 2024. Kazakhstan is going to cover this deficit with the help of electricity imported from Russia. Next year, the power deficit is going to be about 1.57 gigawatts, 1.58 gigawatts in 2025, while in 2026, Kazakhstan may reach a surplus of electricity at 1.36 gigawatts.