H2 View reported in March that Svevind Energy wants to develop a 20GW green hydrogen facility in the Mangystau region of Western Kazakhstan, following the signing of an MoU in June 2021.
Read more: 20GW green hydrogen plant planned for Kazakhstan
Now work on the $50bn project in the Mangistau region has begun, according to Kazakh Invest.
The power plant, which will reach its full capacity by 2032, will have a capacity of 2 million tonnes of green hydrogen per year, equivalent to about one-fifth of the EU’s stated goal of importing green hydrogen by 2030.
The project involves the construction and operation of a desalination plant with a capacity of 255,000 cu m per day, a 40 GW renewable energy station (wind, solar) and a 20 GW water electrolysis production, mainly for export or domestic consumption.
The implementation of the project will create about 3,500 jobs during the construction period and about 1,800 new permanent jobs during the phased commissioning of facilities.
In addition, the implementation of the project involves cooperation between German and Kazakh universities to train personnel in the Mangistau region.
Azamat Kozhanov, Managing Director of Kazakh Invest, said its team, together with other foreign investors, is working on two more green hydrogen production projects.
“In addition, work is underway to agree on the conditions for three more projects under the Investment Agreement, but in other areas,” he said, adding the total list is 70 projects with investments of more than $13bn.
He said green hydrogen projects will not be sponsored by the state budget, but from private investors.
“For Kazakhstan, this is an opportunity to move away from the raw material market and become a manufacturing economy for finished products,” he said.
Having signed and ratified the Paris Agreement more than five years ago, Kazakhstan announced its intention to minimise carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and it is targeting carbon neutrality by 2060. The development of green hydrogen projects can accelerate this process.