Key facts
- Japarov said mining farms generate substantial taxes but Kyrgyzstan lacks the energy to approve new operations.
- The EDB study said the region's constraint is not installed capacity but the availability and deliverability of capacity in critical hours.
- The 24.kg analysis, citing the EDB study, named Kazakhstan-Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan-Kyrgyzstan interstate links among problematic areas.
- Kyrgyz demand rose in recent weeks on the early onset of cold weather, according to the report.
Kyrgyzstan will not grant new licenses for power-intensive cryptocurrency mining until its generating capacity improves, President Sadyr Japarov said in an interview published by Super.kg. He said mining farms generate substantial taxes but that the country does not have enough energy to approve them yet, and that permission could come once large hydroelectric power plants are built.
The decision follows a Eurasian Development Bank study of the region's grid performance in 2024, cited in an October 29 analysis by the 24.kg news agency, which found the network frequently overloaded and forced to carry loads reaching 105 to 123 percent of permissible values. The study named interstate links between Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan and between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan among the problematic areas.
The EDB study said the region's central constraint is not installed capacity but the availability, flexibility and deliverability of capacity in critical hours, with fuel and hydrological limits, offline thermal units and grid bottlenecks leaving part of nameplate capacity unavailable when demand peaks.
Kyrgyz Energy Minister Altynbek Rysbekov met his Uzbek counterpart Sherzod Khodjaev in Tashkent on October 28 to discuss maintaining stable electricity supplies through the cold season. No specific measures were announced. Kyrgyz demand has risen in recent weeks with the early onset of cold weather, according to the report.