Kyrgyzstan
With a cumulative score of 0.81, Kyrgyzstan ranks number 99 among emerging markets and number 128 in the global ranking.
- Emerging markets
- Asia-Pacific
0.77 / 5
Power score
1.03 / 5
Transport score
0.72 / 5
Buildings score
Low-carbon strategy
Net-zero goal and strategy
Kyrgyzstan has not yet disclosed a net-zero target or equivalent.
Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC)
Under its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), Kyrgyzstan plans to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions in the range of 11.49-13.75% below business-as-usual (BAU) levels in 2030 and 12.67-15.69% below BAU levels in 2050. The country also says that, with international support, it could implement mitigation measures to achieve total reductions in the range of 29-30.89% below BAU levels in 2030 and 35.06-36.75% below BAU levels in 2050. Sectors included in its NDC include energy, industrial process, solvents and other product use, agriculture, land use and forestry and waste. In January 2021, a meeting was held to update this target, but nothing has since been announced.
Fossil fuel phase-out policy
Kyrgyzstan has established no policy for phasing out fossil fuels. The country's power mix is already highly dependent on large and small hydro projects, with nearly 90% of its generation coming from hydro. However, there has been little progress in the way of further diversifying this generation mix. This means that the remaining generation, which mostly comes from thermal projects, will likely be a core component of the country's energy market for the foreseeable future.
Power
Power policy
The only major clean energy policy in Kyrgyzstan was created in September 2017, when the Kyrgz government implemented a new program called the "Forty Steps to a New Epoch", which lines up with its Medium-Term Tariff Policy (MTTP). The policy calls for the construction of 11 additional small hydro projects with a capacity of 161MW by 2021 and for renewable generation to make up 10% of Kyrgyzstan's power mix - although it does not specify which other technologies are available. The law is also expected to create incentives for the design, construction and operation of renewables projects, such as exemptions on import duties, expedited or removal of licensing processes, purchasing obligations from the state utility JSC National Grid and preferential feed-in tariffs at a 1.3 co-efficient. This law would grant renewable energy projects nondiscriminatory dispatch priority to the grid, although project owners would be responsible for paying transmission costs to interconnect to the grid. With no more specifics offered (including price), it is likely that the feed-in tariff would just extend to hydro projects and would only be granted to projects built by 2021, when the program is expected to end. As no new clean energy projects, hydro or otherwise, have been built, the status of this policy is uncertain.
Power policies
Power prices and costs
Outlined in its "Unity, Trust, Creation" strategy, published in 2018, Kyrgyzstan will roll out a medium-term tariff plan (MTTP) for 2018-23 that will gradually increase tariff prices, making them flexible and based on the time and period of consumption by the consumer. These increases are intended to improve the financial viability of the state-owned distribution and transmission companies, which suffer weak returns due to high electricity losses and periodic blackouts. Under this MTTP, electricity tariffs are not expected to increase again until 2022, and to date, no time-based tariffs are available.
Power market
Kyrgyzstan's power sector was privatized in 1999, disbanding the state energy company Kyrgyzenergo and unbundling generation, transmission and distribution. JSC Electric Power Plants oversees generation and owns and operates nearly all of the country's existing power generation, which is mostly hydro and has not increased in recent years. No private players have entered the country's generation market, although it is technically privatized. JSC National Grid operates the transmission grid and is entirely independent of JSC Electric Power Plants. SeverElectro, VostokElectro, OshElectro and Jalal-AbadElectro are the four public distribution companies. There are also 21 private companies that operate portions of the distribution network around the country's capital, Bishkek. While the energy market is technically unbundled, government dominance leaves very little movement for private players.
Installed Capacity (in MW)
Electricity Generation (in GWh)
Utility privatisation
Which segments of the power sector are open to private participation?
Wholesale power market
Does the country have a wholesale power market?
Doing business and barriers
Despite an aging power fleet and transmission and distribution grid, almost 100% of Kyrgyzstan's population has access to electricity and the country has not established any energy access targets. That is partly why the country has invested little in upgrading infrastructure or diversifying its power mix, and has allocated minimal to no resources into grid expansion, mini-grids or solar home systems. A government program in 2018 to install PV systems in remote villages is the only residential solar initiative to date in the country, indicating there is little support for such technology at the government level.
Currency of PPAs
Are PPAs signed in or indexed to U.S. Dollars or Euro?
Bilateral power contracts
Can a C&I (Commercial and Industrial) customer sign a long-term contract (PPA) for clean energy?
Bilateral power contracts
Can a C&I (Commercial and Industrial) customer sign a long-term contract (PPA) for clean energy?
Fossil fuel taxes
Does the government influence the wholesale price of fossil fuel (used by thermal power plants) up through taxes?
Bilateral power contracts
Can a C&I (Commercial and Industrial) customer sign a long-term contract (PPA) for clean energy?
Fossil fuel subsidies
Does the government influence the wholesale price of fossil fuel (used by thermal power plants) down through subsidies?
Transport
EV market
Kyrgyzstan's electric vehicle market is still very primitive, with only several hundred vehicles imported into the country and no domestic manufacturing to date (although the first manufacturing facility is currently being built in the city of Balykchy). The country does not have a clean transport target.
EV policy
On June 25, 2020, Kyrgyzstan's parliament passed the Clean Air Bill, which was approved by then President Sooronbai Jeenbekov a month later. In the bill, companies that produce electric vehicles, electric vehicle components or electric vehicle charging infrastructure, or companies that import these, are granted exemption from value-added taxes and import tariffs.
Transport policies
Fuel economy standards
Does the country have a fuel economy standard in place?
Buildings
Buildings market
Kyrgyzstan’s building decarbonization sector is very nascent. Cheap electricity prices and a lack of technical expertise means that most people in the country use a traditional coal or wood-fired stove or a low-pressure boiler for heating.
Energy performance standards
Are there minimum energy performance standards for buildings?
Energy efficiency plan
Does the country have a national energy efficiency plan?
Buildings policy
Kyrgyzstan lacks a long-term plan specifically focuses on low-carbon heating. However, the country does include heat pumps in its goal for 10% of its energy mix to be 'environmentally friendly energy sources', which also includes small hydro, solar, wind and biogas, as part of its 2018-40 National Development Strategy. This is not officially a law, but more of a long-term goal for the country to strive for. The country does not offer any tax credits, grants or low-interest loans for heat pumps.
