The sale of stake by Kazatomprom in solar PV production businesses is part of its privatisation plan for the years 2016–2020, approved by the Government of Kazakhstan.

Kazatomprom

Image: Officials belonging to the companies in the consortium, signing the sale agreement. Photo: Courtesy of Kazatomprom.

Kazakhstan-based uranium-producer Kazatomprom has agreed to sell its 75% stake in Astana Solar, Kazakhstan Solar Silicon and KazSilicon MC to a consortium of investors.

The consortium of buyers includes Yadran Solar from Russia, ECM Greentech from France and China’s Kasen/Canadian Solar. The company is selling its stake in non-core businesses and affiliates and is part of the Complex Privatization Plan for the years 2016–2020, approved by the Government of Kazakhstan.

According to the contract, the consortium will maintain the companies’ business profile, staff numbers and their current salary levels and will also continue with the companies’ existing contracts. The consortium will also purchase the remaining stake of 25% in the KazPV project.

Buyers plan to restart the companies acquired from Kazatomprom

The consortium plans to restart the companies and produce solar cells in Kazakhstan, using the high-purity quartz of the Sarykol deposit from the Almaty region in the country. The solar modules will be used in the solar plants within the country and in the neighbouring countries as well.

Kazakhstan Solar Silicon produces photoelectric cells from solar purity silicon, used in photoelectric module production, with an annual capacity of 50MW, which could be increased to 100MW.

Astana Solar produces photoelectric modules used for conversion of solar energy to electric energy, with an efficiency coefficient of at least 16% and design capacity of 60MW per year.

KazSilicon MC produces metallurgical silicon from the extraction and processing of gangue quartz with 98.5%-99.5% silicon dioxide. The project has reserves of about 1.74 million tons of  gangue quartz, with a design capacity of 10,000 tons per year and production of metallurgical silicon with a design capacity of 3,200 tons per year.

Last March, the company announced its decision to sell its stake in the three companies. It announced that it could sell its stake between 75 and 100% stake in the businesses.