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Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) has officially commenced construction on a landmark 1-gigawatt (GW) wind farm in Kazakhstan’s southern Zhambyl region, marking the company’s inaugural renewable energy asset in the country.
The $1.4 billion development ranks as one of the largest integrated wind generation and battery storage installations in Central Asia. To mitigate the intermittency of wind generation and secure immediate grid stabilization, the installation will couple its 1 GW wind capacity with a high-capacity 600-megawatt-hour (MWh) Battery Energy Storage System (BESS).
Once fully operational, the multi-asset complex is projected to generate sufficient clean electricity to power approximately 880,000 homes in southern Kazakhstan while averting an estimated 2.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually. The heavy infrastructure footprint also requires the construction of over 400 kilometers of overhead high-voltage transmission lines to reinforce the structural carrying capacity of the regional distribution network.
The utility-scale asset is being co-developed under a cross-border public-private partnership. Masdar is leading the project alongside W Solar, Qazaq Green Power (a subsidiary of the state-owned Samruk-Kazyna Sovereign Wealth Fund), and the Kazakhstan Investment Development Fund.
The Zhambyl deployment serves as a primary pillar for Kazakhstan’s national energy strategy, which mandates increasing the share of domestic renewable electricity to 15% by 2030 and 50% by 2050. Concurrently, the project advances Masdar’s corporate expansion campaign to scale its international clean energy operating portfolio to 100 GW by 2030.
“Our partnership with Masdar drives renewable energy development and propels Kazakhstan toward carbon neutrality. This project will strengthen regional energy security and bring cutting-edge technologies to the renewable energy sector.” — Yerlan Akkenzhenov, Kazakhstan’s Minister of Energy and Infrastructure
In parallel with the groundbreaking ceremony, Masdar executed a strategic roadmap agreement with Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development. The partnership will explore the development of the nation’s first Round-the-Clock (RTC) clean energy project.
Designed to provide continuous, 24/7 baseload renewable electricity by pairing variable generation with advanced long-duration storage, the initial phase of the RTC project aims to deliver up to 200 MW of continuous baseload power. This dedicated clean power stream will supply the country’s emerging data center clusters and artificial intelligence infrastructure, supporting the “Data Center Valley” initiative.
The deployment of massive utility-scale storage systems, the construction of cross-regional grid links, and the energy demands of rapidly expanding digital infrastructure across Central Asia will be major focal points at the upcoming Go Net Zero Central Asia & Caspian summit on the 8th of September 2026 in Astana
The global energy transition is no longer a story told in megawatts and policy pledges alone. It is increasingly written in cables, corridors, and cross-border agreements, in the physical and institutional architecture being laid down today that will determine how, where, and at what cost clean electricity flows across continents for the next half-century.
Article by Elchin Ismayilov
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