French energy company TotalEnergies has announced a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) for the 1GW Mirny onshore wind project in Kazakhstan with the Kazakh government.
An agreement in this regard was signed between TotalEnergies’ subsidiary Total Eren and the Financial Settlement Center of Renewable Energy, a public entity owned by the government.
Under the PPA, the Financial Settlement Center of Renewable Energy will purchase all of the clean energy to be generated by the Mirny onshore wind project for supply to the national grid.
To be developed in the Zhambyl region in central Kazakhstan, the renewable energy project will also have a 600MWh battery energy storage system to facilitate a reliable supply of power.
The onshore wind and battery storage project involves a total investment of nearly $1.4bn.
It will feature approximately 200 wind turbines as well as a very large battery storage system to be delivered by lithium-ion energy storage solutions firm Saft, which is fully owned by TotalEnergies.
Kazakhstan Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Almassadam Satkaliyev said: “This project will contribute to the transition of Kazakhstan to the green energy and will be a breakthrough in strengthening French-Kazakh investment cooperation.”
The Mirny project will be developed by TotalEnergies in association with the Kazakh national wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna and the national company KazMunayGas. The two Kazakh entities will each hold a stake of 20% in the Mirny onshore wind project.
In October 2021, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed by the parties to develop, finance, construct, and operate the onshore wind and battery storage project.
The Mirny project will generate about 3,800GWh of clean energy per year for 30 years which will be sufficient to deliver electricity to over one million people in Kazakhstan every year.
Besides, the onshore wind and battery storage project is expected to eliminate the emission of about 3.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year over the duration of the PPA.
TotalEnergies chairman and CEO Patrick Pouyanné said: “This wind and battery project will contribute to the supply and security of the Kazakh power grid. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Kazakh authorities for their support and collaboration throughout this process.”
