Kazakhstan's 295 MW data centre plan meets KEGOC's demand response pilot

Kazakhstan's grid operator KEGOC is piloting a demand response system as the government targets 295 MW of new data centre capacity by the second quarter of 2028. KEGOC said in a 9 October release that a workshop was held in Astana on 8 October.

The release does not mention data centres. The project is run by KEGOC with support from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the consultancy Elia Grid International organised the workshop, according to KEGOC. It said the main goal is to see how adjusting consumption during peak hours can serve as an extra resource, and that the approach will help manage demand during power shortages, make the National Grid more reliable and lower the need to import electricity from neighbouring countries. Experts will outline a design for the system and prepare proposals for a full launch. The release does not say which consumers would take part or give a timetable.

The system the new load joins

KEGOC told the government on 25 August that it forecasts peak demand in the Unified Power System at around 18,200 MW this autumn-winter, 480 MW or 2.7 per cent more than a year earlier. It expects consumption to rise by 2 billion kWh and generation by 2.1 billion kWh, without stating the period for those two figures. In the Southern zone, which received particular attention, peak load is forecast at 5,100 MW, 700 MW more than last winter. Generation within the zone, including new capacity due to come online, should reach some 2,800 MW, with the balance carried over the North-East-South transit lines.

On 14 August, KEGOC said, a system disturbance left the Southern zone of the Unified Power System and the Integrated Power System of Central Asia "separated into islanded operation", and consumer load of about 2,810 MW was shed. Its preliminary operational data pointed to a sudden power surge from the Central Asian system as the cause. The 500 kV Shu-Zhambyl and Zhambyl-Shymkent lines and the western interconnection are slated for completion in 2027, and the Almaty-Zhambyl section is to rise from 1,100 MW to 1,500 MW of transfer capacity.

What the data centre plan adds

The government says it plans to commission 186 MW of data centres in 2027 and a further 109 MW in the second quarter of 2028. Its flagship, Data Center Valley in Ekibastuz, has secured power supply from the GRES-1 plant, the same account says. Ekibastuz is in the Pavlodar region, not in the Southern zone that KEGOC singled out.

For scale, by Corridor Signal's arithmetic, 295 MW is about 1.6 per cent of the 18,200 MW winter peak forecast, and the 186 MW due in 2027 is about 39 per cent of the 480 MW year-on-year rise in forecast peak. The comparison is rough. Data centre figures are installed capacity, forecast peak is a system measure, and a facility may not draw its full rating when the system peaks. The Times of Central Asia calculated in July that a 250 MW complex running continuously would use about 2.19 billion kWh a year, roughly 1.8 per cent of Kazakhstan's 2025 electricity use. On the same basis 295 MW would use about 2.6 billion kWh, similar in size to the 2 billion kWh increase KEGOC forecasts.

The government separately reported that a 90 MW "strategic digital mining" facility, using associated petroleum gas, was launched on 12 September. The Times of Central Asia said the DC Market Insights tracker counted 27 operating data centres with about 30.7 MW of capacity on 7 October.

Eligibility and supply remain unanswered

Neither KEGOC nor the government has said whether data centres would be eligible for the demand response scheme or how the first Ekibastuz facilities would be supplied beyond the GRES-1 reference. The items to track are:

• the design proposals that follow the pilot, and whether they cover large computing loads;
• whether the 500 kV reinforcement projects reach completion in 2027 as scheduled;
• whether KEGOC's next forecast includes data centre connections as a separate line.