ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s energy security is increasingly tied to diversified supply routes, modern electricity infrastructure and deeper regional connectivity, while green hydrogen could open a new industrial opportunity if the country can turn its resource potential into commercially viable projects, experts said at the third Regional Central Asian and European Decarbonization Forum on Sept.
16. The Energy Security in Volatile Geopolitics panel highlighted a fundamental shift in what energy security means. For Kazakhstan, it is no longer only about securing sufficient supplies of oil and gas, but also about developing multiple energy sources, strengthening electricity networks and creating alternative routes to regional and international markets.
“Dependency on single routes is not a good thing,” said Sanzhar Zharkeshov, deputy Energy Minister of Kazakhstan, stressing the need to diversify energy routes while expanding alternative electricity sources. The country is pursuing nuclear power alongside renewable energy.
At the same time, expanding renewables requires greater flexibility in the electricity system. Zharkeshov said Kazakhstan’s new legislation requires renewable energy projects to include battery storage. “You can’t count on natural gas forever for balancing and manoeuvring power.
We have to have a reliable battery storage system,” he said. This highlights a key challenge for the energy transition: adding generation capacity alone is not enough. Transmission networks, storage and regional interconnections will determine how effectively new electricity can be integrated and delivered.
Building the infrastructure before demand peaks Azerbaijan’s Deputy Minister of Energy Orkhan Zeynalov said stronger electricity links between Central Asia, Azerbaijan and Europe could provide additional resilience and flexibility. He said that regional infrastructure should be developed with future demand in mind rather than based solely on current volumes, comparing energy connections with highways that need to be built ahead of traffic growth.
“Tomorrow, the biggest risk is not having this infrastructure,” Zeynalov said. Plans for a green energy corridor linking Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan are part of this emerging regional approach. Greater interconnection could allow countries with different renewable-generation patterns to exchange electricity and provide additional routes to European markets.
The discussion also linked the growth of artificial intelligence to a potentially sharp increase in electricity demand. Zharkeshov said this could change the economics of different energy technologies, making it less relevant to view them as competing alternatives and more important to develop them in parallel.
He argued that stronger demand could, in turn, help improve the economic case for hydrogen.