French energy company TotalEnergies has signed an agreement on investment (AoI) with the Kazakh government for the onshore 1GW Mirny wind project in the Central Asian country.
The agreement between the parties was signed during the ongoing UN’s climate change conference (COP28) in Dubai, UAE.
To be developed in the Zhambyl region in central Kazakhstan, the renewable energy project will also have a 600MWh battery energy storage system to facilitate a reliable supply of clean energy.
The Kazakh onshore wind and battery storage project involves a total investment of nearly $1.4bn.
It will deliver low-carbon electricity to over one million people apart from avoiding the emission of 3.5 million tons of CO2 annually in Kazakhstan.
The Mirny wind project will feature up to 160 turbines.
TotalEnergies chairman and CEO Patrick Pouyanné said: “At COP28, more than 110 nations committed to tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030. TotalEnergies supports this call. With this innovative wind and battery project, our Company is making a direct contribution to this ambition and to the energy transition in Kazakhstan.
“The signing of this Agreement on Investment will allow to launch the Mirny project, which will help TotalEnergies triple its power generation from 33TWh to more than 100TWh by 2030.”
The Mirny wind project will be developed by TotalEnergies in collaboration with the Kazakh national wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna and the state-owned company KazMunayGas. The two Kazakh entities will each hold a stake of 20% in the Mirny onshore wind project.
In June this year, TotalEnergies’ subsidiary Total Eren and the Financial Settlement Center of Renewable Energy, a public entity owned by the Kazakh government, signed a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) for the Mirny wind farm.
As per the terms of the PPA, the Financial Settlement Center of Renewable Energy will purchase all of the clean energy to be generated by the Kazakh onshore wind project for supply to the national grid.
