A delegation of the government of the Republic of Kazakhstan headed by the deputy minister for foreign affairs Mr. Almas Aidarov (“Kazakh delegation”) and company representatives of the SVEVIND group of companies (“SVEVIND”) met in northern Sweden on October 7th and 8th to visit the “MARKBYGDEN 1101” wind farm and to sign the roadmap for the green hydrogen project developments in Kazakhstan.
SVEVIND has been developing and realising extra-large scale onshore wind power projects in Germany, Sweden and Finland since 1998. Its lighthouse project, the “Markbygden 1101” cluster of wind farms, west of the city of Piteå in Northern Sweden, is the largest wind farm in Europe, having already passed the 1000 MW milestone of operational wind turbines earlier in 2021 while an additional 1500 MW of wind turbines are under construction. SVEVIND is developing the final stage of the “Markbygden 1101” cluster and more green energy projects in Northern Sweden to enhance the energy transition.
Since 2019 SVEVIND is also planning projects to produce green hydrogen and other green energy carriers in Kazakhstan for domestic use and export to Eurasian markets. In particular, it is planned to implement a project to operate wind and solar power plants of about 30 GW with the subsequent utilisation for the production of approx. 2 million tons per year of green hydrogen in the Mangystau region of Western Kazakhstan in the first step.
In June 2021, SVEVIND signed a memorandum of understanding with Kazakh Invest National Company JSC confirming its support for SVEVIND’s overall Kazakh project pipeline of 30 GW of green hydrogen projects in Kazakhstan fed by about 45 GW of renewable energy capacity. In July 2021, SVEVIND signed a memorandum of understanding with the county administration of the Mangystau region to support SVEVIND’s project pipeline of 20 GW of green hydrogen projects in the Mangystau region in Western Kazakhstan. In September 2021, at the invitation of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the CEO of SVEVIND, Mr. Wolfgang Kropp, informed the President, Mr. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, about the prospects of the implementation of investment projects in green hydrogen in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Mr. Wolfgang Kropp also met with the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Mr. Askar Mamin, during a meeting with other CEOs of German companies and the Eastern Committee of the German Economy in September 2021.
On October 7th, the Kazakh delegation and SVEVIND met Norrbotten`s regional councillor Mr. Nils-Olov Lindfors, and the Head of development in Norrbotten Region, Mr. Janus Brandin, in the Region House in Luleå to discuss the status and outlook of the successful transition of Northern Sweden towards a low-carbon, sustainable economy as the Republic of Kazakhstan is committed to transform its economy and society as well.
Later the Kazakh delegation and SVEVIND joined a meeting with Mr. Patric Lundström, vice mayor of Piteå municipality. Piteå, home for SVEVIND’s headquarter and the MARKBYGDEN 1101 project, the meeting was used to sign the “roadmap” outlining the next steps for developing and realising the green hydrogen projects in Kazakhstan by the deputy minister for foreign affairs, Mr. Almas Aidarov and SVEVIND`s CEO Mr. Wolfgang Kropp.
Mr. Aidarov said, “Like the rest of the World, we are entering the green hydrogen race. We believe in the prospects of the extra large scale of the 30 GW electrolysis projects in our endless steppes. Currently, we have the understanding and the availability of all the needed resources such as wind, solar, water, land and the know-how from Svevind. Ahead awaits interesting, large-scale and challenging projects.”
Mr. Wolfgang Kropp said, “SVEVIND aims to combine the outstanding natural resources in Kazakhstan with SVEVIND’s long-time experience and passion in project development to supply Kazakhstan and Eurasia with green, sustainable energy and products, ‘powered by nature’. The green hydrogen facilities will lift Kazakhstan among the global leaders of renewable energy and green hydrogen. We are very excited to take this next step in the project development, and we are thankful for the outstanding support of the Kazakh government.”
On October 8th the Kazakh delegation and SVEVIND visited the “Markbygden 1101” wind farm.