Hybrid power plants pairing wind and solar power with a battery can supply up to 90% of Kazakhstan’s typical demand profile for a delivered cost below $60/MWh, according to the latest report from energy think tank Ember.

Ember’s report says Kazakhstan needs “new power capacity quickly”, with its electricity demand rising 16% in the last five years. Coal still dominates Kazakhstan’s electricity mix, supplying 62% of electricity generation in 2025, but its coal units are on average over 50 years old, leading to frequent equipment failures. Ember says there were 891 incidents of various severity between January and July this year.

“To replace its ageing infrastructure and keep pace with fast-growing demand, Kazakhstan needs to build more capacity quickly and ensure its availability during peak periods, including winter demand spikes,” Ember’s report says. “The capacity also needs to be built close to where demand is to relieve pressure on the transmission network.”

Ember’s research analysed 15 sites, chosen for their proximity to a major demand centre and an existing power line, across all three of Kazakhstan’s power zones. It tested 125 combinations of wind, solar and battery capacity at each site, producing 1,875 simulations. Each configuration was simulated hour by hour over a 30-year project life using site a typical hourly demand profile that represented national demand patterns and was scaled to a peak of 100 MW.

Results found the best-performing configurations at each site could supply between 70% and 90% of the electricity in a typical demand profile, hour by hour, over 30 years, at a delivered cost below $60/MWh.

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