OREANDA-NEWS. February 15, 2012. Power Kazakhstan, the famous Kazakhstan international exhibition of Energy, Electrical Equipment and Machine Building, demonstrated a record beating number of exhibiting countries this year.

This 10th edition of Power Kazakhstan incorporated two more expo events: Lighting Kazakhstan 2011 – Exhibition for Lighting, Lighting Equipment and LED Technologies, and ReEnergy Kazakhstan 2011 – Exhibition for Renewable Energy Sources, Power Conservation, Energy Efficiency and Resource Saving. The events are organised by Iteca, a local exhibition company, jointly with ITE Group Plc (United Kingdom), GIMA (Germany), and ITE China (China). The world’s leading supplier of wind energy solutions, Vestas Central Europe, was General Sponsor of Power Kazakhstan 2011.

A total of 120 companies from 15 countries came to Almaty on 1-3 November to take part in these events: Austria, Belarus, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Iran, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Slovenia, South Korea, and Ukraine. Local companies led in the number of exhibitors, with a 35% share of the whole exhibition. Companies from Russia had a significant representation at the exhibition, too – 22% of all exhibitors. Three countries – Germany, China and the Czech Republic – participated with their national stands which included more than 30 companies.

The Czech Republic is not a newcomer in the area of electrical equipment and power, and a lot of companies have a long-standing experience. The Czech national stand at Power Kazakhstan 2011 represented 11 companies. All exhibitors except for two companies came to Kazakhstan for the first time, and their main goal was to familiarise themselves with the market and to look for partners. The core advantage of the exhibiting companies is that they specialise in manufacturing a certain range of products (pressure measuring instruments, temperature gauges, humidity sensors, load sensing units, transformers, reactors, etc.), and are willing to work to order, and they release new items every year. Our companies find the Kazakhstan market very promising, and this was confirmed by our participation in this exhibition, said Frantisek Hibner, Director of the Czech Moravian Electrical Association, in his interview after the exhibition.

Another upside feature of Power Kazakhstan is its format – exhibition and conference. The specialised conference (Forum of Power Engineers) contributes to the overall success rather than being just an appendix to the exhibition.

Annually, more than 150 Kazakhstan and foreign power specialists take part in the Forum – top managers of regional electrical grid and generating companies, power supply facilities, system operators, centralised distribution operators, representatives of research and development institutions, power engineers from major industrial enterprises and other specialists.

The theme line of the 2011 exhibition and one of the main topics of the Forum of Power Engineers was Innovations, Power and Resource Saving Technologies.

Opening the Forum of Power Engineers, Bakhytzhan Dzhaksaliyev, Vice Minister of Industry and New Technologies of Kazakhstan, noted that the country’s economic growth is accompanied by the GDP growth and increasing electrical power consumption. This in turn signifies the continuing energy-spending economic development and an inefficient and irrational use of electrical power in all consumption areas. In his opinion, there will be no radical or sharp change in the short term as this work will require development and implementation of a set of legal, programmatic and practical measures.

According to Mr. Dzhaksaliyev, last April, the Government made a decision to ensure the annual GDP growth at least 7% until 2016. In this respect, electrical power consumption rates for this period were reviewed. According to his data, electrical power generation in 2015 should be around 103 billion kW/h, while its consumption – 100.5 billion kW/h. As most of the electrical power will be produced by coal-fuel power stations, the coal mining by that time will have reached 131 million tons, including the export potential.

Yesbergen Abitayev, Managing Director for Production and Technical Issues, Samruk-Energo JSC, reported that this company is now implementing a series of projects to upgrade and expand the existing power stations and to build new ones. He said that Samruk-Energo JSC manages power stations with the total installed capacity of 9,332 MW, including major power stations of national significance. Moinak Hydroelectric Station, the first one of the two major high-head hydroelectric stations now being built in the CIS, will be commissioned in December (power head – 500 m). Moinak Hydroelectric Station will cover up a lot of peak loads in Southern Kazakhstan which are now covered up by regulation power supply (400 MW) from Toktogul Hydroelectric Station, Kyrgyzstan.

According to Mr. Abitayev, electrical power engineering will be affected by development of renewable energy sources – wind and solar power station will be built in Kazakhstan to generate environment-friendly (green) electrical power and to comply with the Kyoto Protocol and the Carbon Fund requirements.

According to Georgiy Akopyants, President of KazNIPII TES Energia, the structure of generating capacities shows that by 2030 the leading role of coal-operating thermal power stations in Kazakhstan will be retained while the share of renewable energy sources will reach 20% in installed capacity.

Participants in the Forum of Power Engineers included more than 40 speakers from Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Germany, and the United States. The plenary session’s key reports focused on power conservation and energy efficiency. Sessions of the Forum of Power Engineers touched upon the following issues: Development Outlooks for Renewable Energy Sources, Power Engineering Safety, Power Engineering and Applied Innovative Developments.

During Power Kazakhstan 2011, Lighting Kazakhstan 2011, and ReEnergy Kazakhstan 2011, the world’s leading companies presented their equipment, technologies and services for the power engineering complex of Kazakhstan. Specialists from Kazakhstan state-owned companies KEGOC JSC and Samruk-Energo JSC held a series of meetings with potential suppliers at their stands. Representatives of the Kazakhstan Electricity Association and the Union of Power Engineers took part in the exhibitions, too.

When interviewed, many exhibitors commended the visitors’ preparedness. One of the Power Kazakhstan, Re Energy Kazakhstan and Lighting Kazakhstan visitors, Zhumabai Sharipov, said: We are making a project on wind energy, and are now in the information collection phase. In this respect, this exhibition is really unique and very informative. I was excited to learn about technologies to install and maintain wind power plants presented by exhibiting companies. I was also interested in vibration insulation systems and a lot of other things.

First opened in 2002, Power Kazakhstan has since then been gaining popularity with professionals from Kazakhstan, CIS and foreign countries. Since the very first exhibition, Power Kazakhstan has been officially supported by Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Industry and New Technologies, Kazakhstan Electricity Grid Operating Company (KEGOC), Almaty City Administration, Kazakhstan Electricity Association (KEA), Union of Power Engineers, and Union of Engineering Companies.

In its history, the Power Kazakhstan area has increased 8 times – from 300 square metres in an Ankara Hotel hall (now, the InterContinental Hotel) to 2,400 square metres in the state-of-the-art Atakent Exhibition Centre.

The fivefold growth in the number of exhibitors and the eightfold growth in the exhibition area over the past 10 years are the tangible achievements of Power Kazakhstan – the main power engineering event of an international level in Central Asia.

The steady development of the power industry in Kazakhstan enabled Iteca Exhibition Company to arrange a series of new projects in the power engineering sector. In 2009, new projects were initiated in Astana: KazAtomExpo – Nuclear Power and Industry, and Power Astana – Energy, Electrical Equipment and Machine Building. This year, Lighting Kazakhstan and ReEnergy Kazakhstan were held simultaneously with Power Kazakhstan in Almaty. In 2012, Power Kazakhstan, Lighting Kazakhstan, and ReEnergy Kazakhstan will be held on 30 October through 1 November, and will traditionally occupy several pavilions of the Atakent Exhibition Centre in Almaty. Visit www.powerexpo.kz for updates on the events.