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Renewable Energy Cost Is No Longer an Issue
IRENA director welcomed shrinking production costs, focused on grid for Central Asia
Speaking at the Astana International Forum on May 29, Gurbuz Gonul, director for country engagement and partnerships at the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), said that a new initiative could spur cooperation on the renewable energy sector across Central Asia.
After the meeting, Gonul spoke to Vlast about the challenges to introduce market-based mechanisms in countries with highly-subsidized utility prices, such as Kazakhstan.
“Obviously, subsidized electricity prices are a challenge, because it hinders the market from operating at full capacity,” Gonul said.
Speaking about IRENA's Accelerated Partnership for Renewable Energy in Central Asia (APRECA), Gonul said that Kazakhstan has not yet requested their services, but that they have already started working with Uzbekistan.
“One of our first steps was to deal with the problem of the fast and large-scale solar deployment in Uzbekistan, which is affecting the entire region, because it emerged so fast that the grid is insufficient,” Gonul said.
Compared to the speed of solar deployment, “it takes much longer to build the grid and catch up,” Gonul said, hinting that an integrated plan should be worked out across Central Asia “because this is not only affecting Uzbekistan, but also the whole region.”
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