Development of Green Energy: Energo University, together with USAID, launched a rooftop solar power plant in Almaty

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), within the framework of the "Central Asia Energy" project, together with scientists and faculty members of Energo University (Almaty University of Power Engineering and Telecommunications named after Gumarbek Daukeyev) in Almaty, implemented a project to install an urban rooftop solar power plant (URSPP) on the roof of a commercial building. The photovoltaic system has an installed capacity of 52.32 kW/p and consists of 96 "CWT545-144PM10" panels, each with a capacity of 545 W.

In this project, Energo University acted as the main contractor providing project management and engineering support to assess the scalability of the URSPP. For the successful installation of the solar power plant, the university's research team conducted a review of global best practices for URSPPs, Kazakhstan's legislation in the field of renewable energy sources, and analyzed the work on designing and optimizing the operation of the solar station.

The opening ceremony of the mini-power plant was attended by representatives of USAID, including Monique Mosolf, Acting Director of the Regional Mission in Central Asia, as well as staff from the Almaty University of Power Engineering and Telecommunications.

As noted by Aigul Begimbetova, Director of the Institute of Energy and Green Technologies of Energo University, the main goal of the project is to develop alternative energy in Kazakhstan through the comprehensive implementation of "green technologies." This should reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve the environmental condition, which is especially relevant for Almaty.

The experience gained during the implementation of this pilot project will be used to develop guidelines for URSPP investors and recommendations for improving URSPP policy in Kazakhstan.

Notably, the joint work of the university and USAID on the development of renewable energy has been ongoing since 2019. As part of the project, a regional resource center was established at the university, which organizes the training of a new generation of power engineers and technical specialists in the principles of developing renewable energy source projects to achieve decarbonization goals.

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