Kazakhstan's heating season is proceeding normally, with all consumers fully supplied with electricity and heat and wear on heating networks cut to 48%, Energy Minister Yerlan Akkenzhenov told a government meeting, infohub.kz reports.
According to the ministry, funding for this year's repair campaign was increased by 27%. Energy workers have already repaired 8 power units, 49 boilers, 37 turbines, more than 17,000 km of power lines and 377 km of heating mains. As a result, wear at power plants has fallen to 52% and on heating networks to 48%.
"The current heating season is proceeding normally, and all consumers are fully supplied with electricity and heat. The remaining repair work is being carried out on backup equipment and does not affect heat supply. Compared with last year, the number of technological disruptions fell by an average of 6%, and at power plants by 8%," Akkenzhenov said.
At the warehouses of combined heat and power plants and state district power plants, 5.8 million tonnes of coal and 137,000 tonnes of fuel oil have been stockpiled, fully in line with standards. Some 255,000 tonnes of social fuel oil are also being shipped to the regions, while total receivables owed to power plants have been cut by 11% to 72 billion tenge. The minister separately instructed that no coal shortage be allowed for the private sector.
"The planned coal requirement for the population and the municipal sector for the current season is 7.3 million tonnes. To date, the regions have stockpiled 4.5 million tonnes, or 62%. In this regard, akimats must ensure coal stockpiling and take all measures to rule out any grounds for artificial panic in the regions," the head of Kazakhstan's Energy Ministry stressed.
In addition, last summer, under the national project to modernise the energy and utilities sectors, the oldest network sections in cities were upgraded.
"In Stepnogorsk, 9.5 km of heating network that had been in service for 53 years was reconstructed. In Taldykorgan, 3.5 km of the city's main heating main, which had served for 46 years, was upgraded, and in Petropavlovsk, two sections of mains dating from 1980. In Karaganda, replacement was completed of a heating main with 81% wear and the Karagaily power line with 92% wear. All projects used modern energy-efficient pipes made domestically," the minister noted.
Also this year, 14 km of distribution power grids in Astana, to which more than 30,000 subscribers are connected, and overhead lines in the West Kazakhstan Region were reconstructed. An emergency stock of materials has been set up at all of the country's energy facilities, and repair crews are on duty.