Shelek wind farm, the first new energy project jointly built by China and Kazakhstan with a generating capacity of 60 megawatts, starts operation on September 13, 2022. Photo: Courtesy of Chengdu Engineering Corporation Limited.

 
Shelek wind farm, the first new energy project jointly built by China and Kazakhstan, started operation on Tuesday.

The wind farm can generate 230 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, which means a reduction of 206,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions and a saving of 89,000 tons of standard coal every year, said the project contractor, Chengdu Engineering Corporation Limited, a subsidiary of Chinese state-owned enterprise Power Construction Corporation of China.

According to Kazakhstan's energy department, Shelek wind farm can greatly alleviate the power shortage problem in southern Kazakhstan and promote the country's carbon reduction plans and power restructuring.

"We have overcome multiple challenges including bitter cold, COVID-19 outbreaks and local riots since the project was signed. The project helped train a group of local people in wind power construction, operation maintenance and management, which not only promoted local employment, but also developed talent and experience for Kazakhstan's future new energy projects," said He Yanfeng, general manager of Chengdu Engineering Corporation Limited.

As a leading project of China-Kazakhstan cooperation in green energy, the Shelek wind farm project was signed at a forum of China-Kazakhstan entrepreneurs during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Kazakhstan in 2017.

According to China's Foreign Ministry, Xi will pay state visits to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan from September 14 to 16 at the invitation of the presidents of the two countries. Xi will also attend the 22nd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in the city of Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

The Shelek wind farm project was included in the list of key China-Kazakhstan production capacity projects of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which Xi first proposed in Kazakhstan in 2013. As of today, over 140 countries spanning different regions, cultures and stages of development, and more than 30 international organizations, have signed BRI cooperation documents with China.