Doosan Enerbility to expand power generation biz in Kazakhstan

South Korea's Doosan Enerbility Co. announced on Thursday that it signed a cooperation agreement and memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Kazakh state-run companies to expand its power generation business in the Central Asian nations.

The agreements, facilitated by South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol's state visit to Kazakhstan, aim to boost collaboration on talent development, technological exchange and supplying environmental equipment.

Doosan Enerbility signed a cooperation pact with Samruk-Kazyna, Kazakhstan's sovereign wealth fund.

Samruk-Kazyna owns Samruk Energy, responsible for the country's power production.

Under the agreement, the two companies will focus on developing talent and exchanging technologies for Kazakhstan's power industry.

Doosan Enerbility also signed a separate MOU with Samruk Energy and Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) 's subsidiary KEPCO KPS at the Korea-Kazakhstan Business Forum.

The MOU entails supplying environmental facilities to five Kazakh power plants, including two aging thermal plants and three new ones.

Fossil fuels account for nearly 80% of Kazakhstan's power generation capacity, with over half of its plants exceeding 30 years in operation.

The Kazakh government aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060 through energy diversification and expanding renewables.

Last year, Doosan Enerbility secured a 1.15 trillion won ($840 million) contract with Samruk-Kazyna subsidiary Turkistan LLP to build a 1,000 MW combined cycle power plant in Shymkent by 2026.

The company completed the construction of the 310 MW Karabatan combined cycle power plant in 2015, another project commissioned by a Samruk-Kazyna subsidiary.

Write to Hyung-Kyu Kim at khk@hankyung.com