Italian company Eni through its local renewable subsidiary ArmWind has started commercial operations at the 48MW Badamsha wind farm in north-west Kazakhstan.
Badamsha, which is located in the Aktobe region, is expected to generate 198 gigawatt-hours of electricity a year.
The project is Eni’s first large-scale investment in wind and the first step in its renewable energy presence in Kazakhstan.
It is also the first fruits of a memorandum of understanding signed in June 2017 with the Kazakh ministry of Energy for renewable energy developments in Kazakhstan.
Eni has also been awarded a further 48MW wind farm, as a second phase of Badamsha, and a 50MW solar farm in the Turkestan region in southern Kazakhstan in auctions managed by the Kazakh authorities.
The company is targeting over 3GW of wind and solar capacity by 2023 and up to 5GW by 2025 globally.
Eni has been present in Kazakhstan since 1992 and is joint operator of the Karachaganak field and is an equity partner in various projects in the Northern Caspian Sea, including the Kashagan field.