AES Corporation and Kazakhstan Municipal Systems LLP (KKS) today announced the signing of a deal for the sale of Ust-Kamenogorsk TPP and Sogrinskaya TPP owned by AES to KKS. The deal was approved by the antimonopoly authority, the correspondent of MIA Kazinform reports. "AES plans to continue its work in the energy sector of Kazakhstan through the operation of two hydroelectric power plants in the region.

We are currently negotiating with the Government of Kazakhstan to extend the concession of these hydroelectric plants," said Mark Green, President of AES's European Strategic Business Unit. "AES has already committed itself to supporting EXPO—2017, an important global event that will be held in Kazakhstan this year." According to the energy company, with an installed electric capacity of 372.5 MW and a thermal capacity of 881.7 Gcal/hour, Ust-Kamenogorsk CHPP is the largest producer of electricity in the East Kazakhstan region. 515 people work at the station.

The station also supplies thermal energy to large industrial enterprises and covers 80% of the load of the city's housing and communal sector. In November 2016, a new turbine unit No. 12 with a capacity of 120 MW was commissioned. This investment project, being one of the largest in Kazakhstan's electric power sector, not only increased the plant's generation capacity, contributing to reducing energy shortages in East Kazakhstan, but also contributed to increased reliability and efficiency. Sogrinskaya CHPP provides heat and hot water to about 4,000 consumers in the villages of Novaya Sogra, Raduzhny, and Solnechny. In addition, Sogrinskaya CHPP supplies electricity to a number of industrial enterprises in Ust-Kamenogorsk. More than 240 highly qualified local specialists work at the station. The company "Kazakhstan Municipal Systems" operates in the energy sector in the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The KKS Group is represented in the Karaganda and South Kazakhstan regions, it employs about 11 thousand people.