Prime Minister of Kazakhstan reviewed the progress of construction at CCGT Turkistan

Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Olzhas Bektenov visited the construction site of CCGT Turkistan LLP and reviewed the progress of the 1,000 MW combined-cycle gas turbine power plant project. CCGT Turkistan LLP is a subsidiary of Samruk-Kazyna JSC. The company is under the trust management of Samruk-Kazyna Construction JSC. During the working visit, the Prime Minister was briefed on the status of construction and installation works, the delivery of key process equipment, and the development of external infrastructure.

For southern Kazakhstan, this project is of particular importance in terms of reliable power supply. The average electricity demand of the Turkistan Region and the city of Shymkent is about 1,000 MW, while the capacity deficit is around 800 MW. The future plant is expected to cover exactly this volume.

“The Head of State noted at the meeting of the National Kurultai that the commissioning of new generating capacity is a necessary condition for the development of a modern energy-intensive economy. Ensuring the stable operation of life-support systems and building a resilient energy base is one of the Government’s key tasks. The implementation of the CCGT Turkistan project will create an additional reserve of capacity and strengthen the resilience of the power system of the entire southern region. The plant will become an important element of socio-economic development and will create a foundation for the implementation of new investment projects,” Olzhas Bektenov emphasized.

The overall power plant and external infrastructure project includes five areas: the main site, external power supply, external gas supply, the access road, and external water supply. Work is underway in all of these areas. The general contractor for the main site is a consortium comprising Doosan Enerbility and the Kazakh company Integra Construction KZ LLP. The main site covers 60 hectares. The external infrastructure includes more than 111 km of power transmission lines, a 3.4 km fiber-optic communication line, a 13.6 km gas pipeline, and an external water supply system including seven wells.

Construction is in an active phase. All four gas turbines with generators have already been installed on their foundations, and two steam turbines and four sets of heat recovery steam generators have also been delivered. External gas supply is 94.1 percent complete, while the fiber-optic communication line has been completed in full. Around 1,054 personnel and 150 units of specialized equipment have been mobilized on site.

As noted by Ulan Burkitov, Chairman of the Management Board of CCGT Turkistan LLP, “Our key task is to ensure the timely completion of construction and installation works, to carry out synchronized equipment installation in parallel, and to make up for and eliminate the delays that have occurred so that one stage does not slow down another”. According to him, the availability of the main equipment on site makes it possible to maintain the pace of construction and installation works and move steadily through the key milestones of the schedule.

During the visit, it was noted that the plant is using next-generation gas turbines, which ensures the efficient use of natural gas and lower emissions compared with traditional coal-fired generation. A key feature of the future plant is its flexibility: CCGT Turkistan will be able to ramp load up and down quickly, compensating for fluctuations in solar and wind generation and supporting the stability of the power system in the southern region. The plant is being equipped with world-class technology: gas turbines from Siemens Energy, steam turbines from Doosan Škoda Power, and heat recovery steam generators from Nooter Eriksen. In environmental terms, the specific CO2 emissions of the combined-cycle gas turbine plant are about 2.5 times lower than those of coal-fired generation of comparable capacity.

The project also has a significant social and economic impact on the region. During the peak construction period, it provides employment for up to 2,200 people, and after commissioning, around 600 jobs will be created at the facility. Following the visit, Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov instructed the Ministry of Energy to ensure the timely implementation of the project, compliance with the established schedule, adherence to environmental requirements, coordination with grid infrastructure, and commissioning of the facility on time.