Doosan Enerbility Enters into MOU to Support Development of Kazakhstan Power Industry

Doosan Enerbility announced that Kazakhstan’s Minister of Energy, Almas Sadam Satkaliyev, had visited its Changwon headquarters on October 23rd. The Minister was accompanied by a delegation consisting of Talgat Karashev, Director of Department for International Cooperation at Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Energy; Gumar Sergazin, Director of Department for Atomic Energy & Industry at the Ministry of Energy; Timur Zhantikin, General Director of Kazakhstan Nuclear Power Plants LLP and Aslan M. Askar, Consul General of Kazakhstan in Busan. A welcoming party led by Doosan Enerbility’s Chief Marketing Officer Jungkwan Kim was there to greet the Kazakh guests.

Doosan Enerbility signed a memorandum of understanding with Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Energy that day on cooperation for the development of Kazakhstan’s power industry. Based on this agreement, the two parties plan to expand cooperation on the development and modernization of Kazakhstan’s power industry. After signing the MOU, the Kazakhstan delegation took a shop tour around Doosan’s nuclear shop where main components of the Korean standard nuclear reactor APR1400 are made, the turbine shop where 380MW ultra-large gas turbines are manufactured, as well as to the ammonia co-firing demonstration shop to get a first-hand view of Doosan’s manufacturing capabilities.

Fossil fuel currently accounts for close to 80% of the power generation in Kazakhstan. With over half of the facilities being aged thermal power plants that are more than 30 years old, the need for renovation and modernization has been growing. The Kazakhstan government, which had announced its commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, has also disclosed plans to build two new nuclear power plants in the Ulken region. A national referendum had been held in Kazakhstan recently on pursuing the construction of a nuclear power plant, with 71.12% of voters voting in favor of the plant construction.

“Carbon-free solutions such as nuclear power, SMRs and gas turbines will be the most efficient and effective solution for Kazakhstan’s energy plan,” said Jungkwan Kim, Chief Marketing Officer of Doosan Enerbility. “By expanding and strengthening our cooperation, we hope to contribute to Kazakhstan’s efforts to achieve carbon neutrality and energy security.”

Doosan Enerbility had signed a KRW 1.15 trillion contract last year to build a combined cycle power plant in Shymkent, a region located in southern Kazakhstan. During South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s state visit to Kazakhstan in June this year, a cooperation agreement on pursuing the development of Kazakhstan’s power industry was signed with several Kazakh state-run companies in the financial and energy sectors, such as Samruk Kazyna and Samruk Energy, and a memorandum of understanding had been signed on supplying environmental facilities to a Kazakh thermal power plants.

▲On Oct. 23, Kazakhstan’s Minister of Energy, Almas Sadam Satkaliyev (on the left), and Doosan Enerbility CMO Jungkwan Kim pose for a photo after signing the “MOU on Cooperation for Kazakhstan’s Power Industry Development” at Doosan Enerbility’s Changwon HQ.