Government Urged to Focus on Renewable Energy
Government Urged to Focus on Renewable Energy
A conference in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek has called for greater use to be made of renewable energy. The country has huge potential to tap into these sources of power, but has so far failed to do so because the government has shown little interest, and technical expertise is limited.
The national conference on renewables on December 5 ended with a call to parliament to conduct hearings on the issue.
Kyrgyzstan’s mountainous terrain is ideal for generating hydroelectricity, and the country has six big hydroelectric power stations and ten smaller ones in operation. But energy experts interviewed by NBCentralAsia say climatic and environmental conditions also offer real potential to expand the use of other renewable energy sources.
Renewables expert Nurzat Abdyrasulova, “Kyrgyzstan could borrow from other countries and make effective use of water, wind, biomass and solar power – all of them safe sources of energy – and reduce imports of non-renewable energy.”
The country currently imports 54 per cent of the energy it needs, paying neighbouring states foreign currency for gas and oil. According to Batyrkul Isaev, head of the State Energy Agency, renewable energy – excluding hydroelectric power – accounts for just 0.17 per cent of the electricity generated in Kyrgyzstan.
In a country where livestock-raising has always been an important part of the economy, one of the most accessible technologies is biogas – gas that is extracted from manure. One participant in the conference cited a rural school which has cut its heating costs in half by switching from coal to biogas.
Alaibek Obozov, head of the Centre for the Use of Renewable Energy Sources, there are now several biogas systems in operation, producing between 10 and 300-500 cubic metres of gas every day.
But introducing renewables on a wider scale is made difficult by the lack of government support, as State Energy Agency chief Isaev acknowledges. “There are a lot of organisations working in this area, but they are mainly funded by international donors. The state and local government authorities are not involved,” he said.
Advocates of renewable energy say the government should introduce incentives for both those who produce it and those who use it.
Another problem is the lack of public awareness about the environmental and financial benefits of using renewable energy.
Obozov says his centre is proposing a programme that would give up to 30 per cent of the rural population access to biogas energy. But he says the project will need state support and a major awareness-raising campaign.
(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)
The national conference on renewables on December 5 ended with a call to parliament to conduct hearings on the issue.
Kyrgyzstan’s mountainous terrain is ideal for generating hydroelectricity, and the country has six big hydroelectric power stations and ten smaller ones in operation. But energy experts interviewed by NBCentralAsia say climatic and environmental conditions also offer real potential to expand the use of other renewable energy sources.
Renewables expert Nurzat Abdyrasulova, “Kyrgyzstan could borrow from other countries and make effective use of water, wind, biomass and solar power – all of them safe sources of energy – and reduce imports of non-renewable energy.”
The country currently imports 54 per cent of the energy it needs, paying neighbouring states foreign currency for gas and oil. According to Batyrkul Isaev, head of the State Energy Agency, renewable energy – excluding hydroelectric power – accounts for just 0.17 per cent of the electricity generated in Kyrgyzstan.
In a country where livestock-raising has always been an important part of the economy, one of the most accessible technologies is biogas – gas that is extracted from manure. One participant in the conference cited a rural school which has cut its heating costs in half by switching from coal to biogas.
Alaibek Obozov, head of the Centre for the Use of Renewable Energy Sources, there are now several biogas systems in operation, producing between 10 and 300-500 cubic metres of gas every day.
But introducing renewables on a wider scale is made difficult by the lack of government support, as State Energy Agency chief Isaev acknowledges. “There are a lot of organisations working in this area, but they are mainly funded by international donors. The state and local government authorities are not involved,” he said.
Advocates of renewable energy say the government should introduce incentives for both those who produce it and those who use it.
Another problem is the lack of public awareness about the environmental and financial benefits of using renewable energy.
Obozov says his centre is proposing a programme that would give up to 30 per cent of the rural population access to biogas energy. But he says the project will need state support and a major awareness-raising campaign.
(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)
