Kazakhstan informed about negotiations with "Inter RAO" on the organization of electricity supplies from the Russian Federation to cover the growth in consumption
The Kazakh authorities are negotiating with the generating company Inter RAO on possible power flows due to the increased consumption in the republic, said the First Vice Minister of Energy of Kazakhstan Murat Zhurebekov.
POWER FLOWS
“Our power system provides for the so-called power flows from Russia to us and from us to Russia. We don't call it imports, we call it crossflows. We are working with Inter RAO - this is a standard industry practice. During peak hours, we have a flow of electricity from Russia to Kazakhstan, since the increased consumption by miners affects our reserves, which are necessary for some emergency work or other disposal of energy, "TASS quotes Zhurebekova.
According to the minister, Kazakhstan can cover the lack of electricity due to such flows. “This is a standard industry practice, and prices are also discussed there within the framework of the agreements that we have. We think that there will be no influence on electricity tariffs in Kazakhstan”, the vice minister explained, answering a question about negotiations with Inter RAO.
He explained that the issue of new prices for electricity flows is not currently being discussed with the Russian side. “We are not discussing special prices for the next year. We have current flows, there is a set price that is acceptable to both parties, and we are negotiating within this price corridor”, Zhurebekov said.
JOINT VENTURE
At the same time, as Director of the Electricity Development Department of the Ministry of Energy of Kazakhstan Aidos Daribayev said at a briefing on November 5, the state-owned company Samruk-Energo (part of the Samruk-Kazyna National Welfare Fund group) is negotiating with Inter RAO on the establishment of a joint enterprises for the supply of electricity to Kazakhstan.
According to the Ministry of Energy, cited by the news agency, in the first 10 months of 2021, energy consumption in the country increased by 8% versus 1-2% in previous years. This growth, comparable to 1-1.2 thousand MW of electricity, is associated in the ministry with the consumption of energy by cryptocurrency miners, including illegal ones. According to the Ministry of Energy, the creation of new generating capacities for the production of such a volume of energy will require about five years and about $ 1-1.5 billion in investment.
“We understand that generating capacities will not be built right away, this will take at least five years. In this connection, Samruk-Energo has begun negotiations with Inter RAO on the supply of electricity to the Republic of Kazakhstan, "Daribayev said. According to him, negotiations are underway "on the creation of a joint venture so that it supplies electricity to new entities engaged in mining".
On October 28, the acting head of the Inter RAO trading block, Alexandra Panina, announced that the company is considering the possibility of starting commercial electricity supplies to Kazakhstan amid the country's energy shortage. According to her, Inter RAO is considering the possibility of entering the Kazakhstan stock exchange, where it is possible to offer buyers contracts (for an hour, a day, a month) at a price that includes the cost of electricity, transmission fees and margin. Inter RAO would like to sell an average of about 300-400 MW per day, Panina said.
Prior to that, in October, KEGOC, the operator of the Kazakhstani energy system, reported that as a result of high accidents at power plants and a sharp increase in cryptocurrency mining, unscheduled power flows on the border with Russia in the amount of about 1-1.5 GW per day occur in the country. At the same time, according to rough estimates of KEGOC, the volume of electricity consumption in Kazakhstan by farms that mine cryptocurrencies exceeds 1 GW.
In addition, according to the company, the situation is complicated by the shortage of a reserve of maneuverable generating capacities, which is necessary to regulate the balance of power in the power system with daily fluctuations in electricity consumption.
Commenting on unscheduled flows on the border with Kazakhstan, A. Panina noted that the republic several times exceeds the agreed volumes of flows and pays for electricity ex post facto at the price of the balancing market, which is lower than the one-rate price of the European part of the Russian Federation (at the end of August it was about 2.73 rubles per 1 kW h) and does not exceed 2 rubles.