KazAtomProm to launch solar battery production in Astana

REUTERS/Srdjan Zivulovic©

National atomic company KazAtomProm has chosen Astana city to construct its solar battery production plant, Tengrinews.kz correspondent reports. This announcement was made by the head of the company Vladimir Shkolnik at the Senate meeting on social responsibility of national companies. Construction is due to begin in March. According to forecasts it will take at least 2 years to finish the construction. The cost is estimated at $224-231 million. Shkolnik said that this plant would be the most advanced solar battery plant in the world. It is going to consist of two parts. The first part – metallurgic operations – is going to be located in Ust-Kamenogorsk and the second part is to be placed in Astana. He said that the plant will be producing 50 megawatt worth of solar batteries a year. “Annually it will be producing 50 megawatt worth of solar batteries, but this capacity can be increased to 100 megawatt”, he added. A group of French companies is involved in development of the project. In October 2010 KazAtomProm signed a number of solar energy agreements with French companies. The national company struck an agreement with the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) and on joint research in these areas. It also agreed with the Bureau of geological and mining research (BRGM) to create a joint research laboratory to study rare and rare-earth metals.

National atomic company KazAtomProm has chosen Astana city to construct its solar battery production plant, Tengrinews.kz correspondent reports. This announcement was made by the head of the company Vladimir Shkolnik at the Senate meeting on social responsibility of national companies. Construction is due to begin in March. According to forecasts it will take at least 2 years to finish the construction. The cost is estimated at $224-231 million. Shkolnik said that this plant would be the most advanced solar battery plant in the world. It is going to consist of two parts. The first part – metallurgic operations – is going to be located in Ust-Kamenogorsk and the second part is to be placed in Astana. He said that the plant will be producing 50 megawatt worth of solar batteries a year. “Annually it will be producing 50 megawatt worth of solar batteries, but this capacity can be increased to 100 megawatt”, he added. A group of French companies is involved in development of the project. In October 2010 KazAtomProm signed a number of solar energy agreements with French companies. The national company struck an agreement with the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) and on joint research in these areas. It also agreed with the Bureau of geological and mining research (BRGM) to create a joint research laboratory to study rare and rare-earth metals.