Reports · Oct 18, 2026
EU-Central Asia Green Energy Partnership Launched at Samarkand Forum
The Central Asia + EU Ministerial Forum in Samarkand announced the EU-Central Asia Green Energy Partnership on October 18, a framework designed to develop 10 gigawatts of new renewable energy capacity in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan by 2030 and enable green hydrogen export to Europe via the Trans-Caspian Corridor. The partnership involves 4.5 billion euros in EU-backed financing and represents the first structured attempt to link Central Asian renewable resource potential with European energy transition requirements.
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Key takeaways
- Target: 10GW new renewable capacity in Central Asia by 2030
- Green hydrogen export via Trans-Caspian corridor identified as long-term goal for post-2030
- EUR 4.5 billion in EU-backed financing, primarily through EIB and Global Gateway guarantees
- Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan sign bilateral investment agreements with European renewable developers
- Central Asia Renewable Energy Grid Standard to be harmonised with EU technical norms
Partnership Architecture and Renewable Potential
The EU-Central Asia Green Energy Partnership, announced October 18 by European Commission Vice President Teresa Ribera and Kazakhstan's Energy Minister Almasadam Satkaliyev, targets 10GW of new renewable energy capacity by 2030 distributed across three priority countries: Kazakhstan (6GW, primarily wind and solar), Uzbekistan (3GW, solar), and Kyrgyzstan (1GW, small hydro and wind). The selection reflects both resource endowments — Kazakhstan's steppe regions have among the highest wind potential in Eurasia, and Uzbekistan's Qizilqum desert has irradiation levels comparable to Saudi Arabia — and institutional readiness: both countries have enacted renewable energy frameworks with competitive tender processes that meet minimum EU investment protection standards.
The financing package combines EU Global Gateway guarantees of 2 billion euros with EIB project loans of 1.5 billion euros and bilateral development finance from Germany's KfW (500 million euros) and France's AFD (350 million euros). Private co-financing is expected to add a further 3-4 billion euros, based on comparable transactions in Central Asia. Several European renewable energy developers — including Iberdrola, Engie, and Statkraft — have signed memoranda of understanding for specific project development ahead of the Forum. Kazakhstan signed a bilateral investment protection agreement with Germany, France, and the Netherlands on the Forum's margins, providing the contractual foundation required by those countries' developers.
Green Hydrogen and Long-Term Export Ambition
The partnership's most strategically ambitious element is its identification of green hydrogen export via the Trans-Caspian Corridor as a post-2030 goal. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have large-scale renewable resources but limited domestic electricity demand growth that would fully absorb 10GW of new capacity; export of surplus renewable electricity or green hydrogen to European markets would provide the revenue justification for investment beyond domestic needs. The Trans-Caspian corridor's hydrogen component — requiring dedicated pipelines or compressed hydrogen shipping — is technically more complex than the electricity and rail connectivity elements, and the 2030 timeline is considered aspirational rather than committed by energy officials.
A Central Asia Renewable Energy Grid Standard, to be harmonised with EU technical norms for grid connection, frequency regulation, and metering, was agreed in principle at the Forum. Harmonisation is essential for electricity trade: Kazakhstan's and Uzbekistan's grids currently operate to Soviet-era standards that are not interoperable with European systems without significant power electronics conversion infrastructure. The grid standard harmonisation programme will be technically supported by ENTSO-E, the European network of transmission system operators, and is expected to produce a draft standard by end-2027 with implementation pathways agreed with each country separately. Kyrgyzstan, whose hydro-dominant system has characteristics more similar to Scandinavian grids, may achieve harmonisation faster than the larger thermal-dominant systems of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
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