Renewable energy technology uptake in Kazakhstan: Policy drivers and barriers in a transitional economy

Kazakhstan has considerable renewable energy potential, the development of which can provide significant environmental, economic and social benefits. The country's national low carbon energy strategy aims to bring the share of renewables in electricity production to 50% by 2050. Despite the considerable renewable energy resource base, and ambitious deployment targets, the current contribution of non-hydro renewable energy to final electricity demand is less than one percent. Adoption of renewable energy technologies in a fossil fuel resource-rich country like Kazakhstan remains a big challenge but current low oil prices and a weakening economy may offer new opportunities. Deploying an Analytical Hierarchy Process methodology we identify the most significant barriers to uptake of renewable energy in the context of the electricity sector. The main factors preventing the penetration and scale-up of renewables include: a political and regulatory framework which supports and promotes a continued focus on fossil fuels, supported in part by regional geopolitics; a lack of awareness of sustainable alternative energy generation systems and a combination of social poverty and poor education in communities that are most likely to benefit from broadly distributed renewable technologies; market conditions driven by current electricity tariffs; inefficient but incumbent power technologies; and a high-risk business environment. Ranking barriers by importance will provide practitioners and regulators a mechanism to improve policies and incentivize renewable energy uptake in Kazakhstan and other resource-rich transition economies in Central Asia.