Kazakhstan Energy Tenders: 2026 Renewable Auction Programme
Last updated: 15 October 2026 · Last verified: 15 October 2026
Kazakhstan runs one of the most active competitive renewable-energy auction systems in Central Asia. Rather than negotiating feed-in tariffs directly, the Ministry of Energy publishes an annual auction schedule and lets KOREM JSC — the state-owned electricity market operator — run descending-price online auctions for wind, solar and hydro capacity in specific grid zones. This page tracks the 2026 auction schedule, the individual results published so far, and the separate bilateral deals that sit alongside the auction system.
The 2026 Auction Schedule: 915 MW Across Three Technologies
Kazakhstan’s Minister of Energy, Yerlan Akkenzhenov, approved the 2026 renewable-auction schedule on 16 February 2026, covering a combined 915 MW: 450 MW of wind in the Western and Northern grid zones, 265 MW of solar in the Southern zone, and 200 MW of hydro across all zones. That follows a larger 1,810 MW schedule across wind, solar, hydro and biomass that the Ministry approved for 2025, under which a 600 MW solar auction held 29 December 2025 was won by Altyn Dala Energy LLP at 34.60 KZT/kWh excluding VAT — a useful price benchmark for the smaller 2026 solar results below. KOREM runs each auction as a separate online, descending-price session restricted to a single technology and zone, open to any registered developer; auctions since 2024 have also required storage to be co-located with new wind and solar capacity — typically storage equal to 30% of installed capacity, discharging for two to four hours.
| Technology | 2026 Schedule | Zone(s) | Storage requirement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wind | 450 MW | Western, Northern | ≥30% of capacity, 2hr+ duration |
| Solar | 265 MW | Southern | ≥30% of capacity, 4hr duration |
| Hydro | 200 MW | All zones | Not applicable |
As of the most recent KOREM progress report (May 2026), nine of the scheduled auctions had been held for a combined 915 MW on offer, but only 16 projects totaling 753.11 MW had actually been awarded — 450 MW wind, 245 MW solar and 58.11 MW hydro (36.61 MW large-hydro, 21.5 MW small-hydro). The 20 MW gap on the solar side reflects one auction that KOREM declared invalid for lack of competition (see below). TDE could not independently confirm whether additional auctions under this schedule have been completed between June and October 2026; readers bidding into a specific round should check KOREM’s own results registry at vie.korem.kz for the current count.
Auction Results Published So Far
Each KOREM auction publishes the winning company, the awarded capacity and the clearing tariff in Kazakhstani tenge per kilowatt-hour, excluding VAT. The four results below are the ones TDE could verify directly against KOREM and Qazaq Green Renewable Energy Association reporting.
| Auction date | Zone | Technology | Capacity awarded | Winner(s) | Tariff (KZT/kWh, excl. VAT) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 Apr 2026 | Western (Atyrau) | Wind | 250 MW | Batys Caspiy Energo LLP | 22.32 |
| 28 Apr 2026 | Southern | Solar (large, 50 MW) | 0 MW — declared invalid | No winner (only 1 company qualified; rules require 2+) | — |
| 30 Apr 2026 | Southern | Solar | 50 MW | Energo Tranzit Grupp LLP | 34.56 |
| 20 May 2026 | Northern | Wind | 100 MW | Terra Wind LLP | 12.88 |
| 22 May 2026 | All zones | Small hydro | 21.5 MW (of 50 MW offered) | 5 companies, incl. Orbulaq Energy, QazQuat, Zhastar Quat Company, Arasan HPP, A&T-Energo A | 40.80–41.23 |
The invalidated 50 MW large-solar auction was rescheduled for a repeat session on 23 July 2026; TDE could not confirm the outcome of that repeat auction from publicly available KOREM or trade-press reporting as of this update, and treats that capacity as still unresolved rather than awarded. Tariffs across the published results range roughly ten-fold — from 12.88 KZT/kWh for the largest wind award to over 41 KZT/kWh for small hydro — reflecting how strongly price depends on technology, project scale and how many qualified bidders show up to a given session (the Northern wind auction drew 8 qualified bidders and 25 price bids against 100 MW on offer, while the invalidated solar auction drew just one).
Outside the Auctions: Direct Government-to-Developer Deals
Kazakhstan’s 2026 schedule runs alongside a separate track of large, bilaterally negotiated wind projects that bypass the KOREM auction process entirely. In late 2022 and early 2023, the Ministry of Energy and the Samruk-Kazyna sovereign wealth fund signed head-of-terms agreements with three international developers for 1 GW wind-plus-storage projects each: ACWA Power (Saudi Arabia, ~$1.5 billion, Zhetysu region), Masdar (UAE) and TotalEnergies (France). These are negotiated strategic investments rather than competitive tenders, and TDE could not confirm a current construction or financial-close status for any of the three from this update’s research — they are flagged here as context for the scale of capacity Kazakhstan is adding outside the KOREM system, not as part of the 915 MW 2026 auction schedule.
Why This Matters for Developers and Suppliers
Kazakhstan’s auction model rewards developers who can bid aggressively on price and secure storage capacity quickly — the widest tariff spread so far (12.88 to over 41 KZT/kWh) shows that scale and competition, not technology type alone, drive clearing prices down. For turbine, panel and battery suppliers, each zone-specific auction is a discrete, time-boxed procurement event: a winning developer typically has a short window to finalize equipment contracts before construction milestones attached to the power-purchase agreement kick in. The parallel bilateral-deal track (ACWA Power, Masdar, TotalEnergies) also signals that Kazakhstan is actively courting international strategic investors for projects too large to clear through a single KOREM auction zone.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does Kazakhstan’s renewable energy auction system work?
The Ministry of Energy approves an annual capacity schedule by technology and grid zone; KOREM JSC, the state electricity market operator, then runs a separate online descending-price auction for each zone/technology slice, open to any registered developer that meets prequalification rules.
How much renewable capacity is in Kazakhstan’s 2026 auction schedule?
915 MW: 450 MW of wind (Western and Northern zones), 265 MW of solar (Southern zone), and 200 MW of hydro (all zones), approved by Ministry of Energy order on 16 February 2026.
What happens if a Kazakhstan renewable auction fails?
Under KOREM’s rules, an auction is declared invalid if fewer than two companies qualify to bid. A 50 MW large-solar auction on 28 April 2026 was invalidated on exactly that basis and rescheduled for a repeat session.
Who are ACWA Power, Masdar and TotalEnergies building wind projects for in Kazakhstan?
Each signed a separate head-of-terms agreement with Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Energy and the Samruk-Kazyna sovereign wealth fund around 2022–2023 for a 1 GW wind-plus-storage project; these are bilaterally negotiated strategic investments, not KOREM competitive auctions.
Related The Daily Energy Pages
- Saudi Arabia Energy Tenders: NREP Round 6 & 7 (Energy Tenders series)
- India Battery Storage Tenders: SECI BESS Tracker (2026) (Energy Tenders series)
- Home Battery Storage Incentives in Poland (2026) (Energy Incentives series)
- ACWA Power: Ownership, Leadership and Key Projects
- Saudi Arabia Energy Profile: Oil, Gas, Power (2026)
Sources
- Kazakhstan Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Consulate-General, Kuala Lumpur), “Investment Opportunity in Renewable Energy: Kazakhstan Launches 915 MW Auction Programme for 2026,” gov.kz, 2026
- KOREM JSC (korem.kz) individual auction result notices, April–May 2026
- Qazaq Green Renewable Energy Association (qazaqgreen.com) auction coverage, April–May 2026
- Energy Intel / AGBI / Energy Storage News coverage of the ACWA Power, Masdar and TotalEnergies 1 GW Kazakhstan wind agreements, 2022–2023
Illustrative image. Photo: Renée Kools, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons — source
