On the sidelines of COP28, the U.N. climate change conference, Kazakhstan heralded its efforts to put wind in the sails of its own energy transition. Kazakhstan inked a new agreement with the host United Arab Emirates’ state-owned renewables company, Masdar, on December 2 for the development of a 1 gigawatt wind power project in the … Read more
It is a puzzling question: why do the energy-rich Central Asian states experience frequent energy crises? The answer points to a trap, a ticking bomb that every winter threatens to explode into an insurmountable challenge for the region’s people and its governments alike: the region’s old infrastructure needs billions in immediate renovations and the region’s … Read more
Winter focuses the mind on staying warm, particularly in Central Asia where temperatures can drop to minus 40 degrees Celsius for weeks at a time. As the region prepares for winter, people know that their heating supply could be disrupted by unexpected power outages and interruptions in district heating, or by the unavailability of fuel. … Read more