ASTANA (Trend) – ­Over $1 billion will be invested in the Ekibastuz-2 power plant expansion and reconstruction project, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said during a teleconference with the regions.

The GRES-2 Power Plant in Ekibastuz, Kazakhstan

He recalled that the Ekibastuz-2, built during the Soviet Union, provides the entire northern part of the country and some other regions with electricity, which is generated using cheap coal from Ekibastuz. “This is very important project for the country, and I am glad that the Kazakh power engineering specialist will work together with Russian to implement this project,” Nazarbayev said.

Ekibastuz-2 generates electricity from high-ash coal from Ekibastuz by two power units of 500 MW each, has an installed capacity of 1,000 MW. The two power units today generate about 12% of all volume of electricity produced in the country. Ekibastuz-2’s energy provides northern Kazakhstan. Consumers are dozens of enterprises not only in Kazakhstan but also in Russia. Kazakhstan railways, the Baikonur Cosmodrome and Irtysh-Karaganda canal are among them.

In late 2005, a joint Kazakh-Russian energy company was established based on the Ekibastuz-2. Some 50% stake in the company is owned by JSC Ekibastuz energy centre, which is included in SamrukEnergo, while the second half of the shares is owned by the Russian INTER RAO UES.

An agreement was signed on the construction and operation of the third unit of Ekibastuz-2 power plant by energy ministers of Russia and Kazakhstan at the Interregional Cooperation Forum on Sept. 11, 2009.