In 2017, the Kyrgyz Sustainable Energy Financing Facility and the Small Business Advisory Program of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development funded the first energy-efficient apartment building project – Nurlan LLC – where renewable energy equipment was introduced.
How it all started
Nurlan company is engaged in the construction of apartment buildings in the capital city of Kyrgyzstan. In one of the districts of Bishkek (Solnechny), Nurlan LLC is working on the construction of five nine-storey buildings, four of which have been put into operation.
Due to problems related to the connection of the houses to the central heating network, they were equipped with electric heating systems. However, this fact caused a lot of inconvenience to the apartment owners due to high costs and periodic power supply failures. Therefore, it was decided to build the 5th building differently and to introduce alternative energy sources in it.
Investment and consulting support by the EBRD
One of the priorities of the EBRD is to promote the use of green technologies in Kyrgyzstan, which can make a significant contribution to the development of a green economy. To accomplish this task, EBRD has successfully implemented the Kyrgyz Sustainable Energy Financing Facility and a small business consultancy program, with the support of which hundreds of successful energy-efficient practices have already been implemented.
The innovative project of Nurlan LLC was supported by two EBRD programs. Thus, within KyrSEFF investment support of US $57,882 was provided to install RES equipment and a grant from the European Union of US $14,469 will be awarded. The small business consultancy program allocated 8,741 euros in grants to attract a consultant to the company NurSun Energy LLC, and that amount is 75% of the net cost of the consulting project.
Quality European equipment
The new system, solar collector and heat pump, is fully automated and can be remotely controlled via the Internet. The automatic control system constantly reads data from temperature sensors and provides the house with hot water and heat. The percentage of energy savings due to the use of solar systems will be 70-80% for domestic hot water supply and 30-40% for heating. The system will produce up to 2000 liters of hot water a day. The company will be engaged in maintenance and will be responsible for coordinating the meters in the house, invoicing hot water, heating, and electricity and collecting money for utilities.
Erkin Saitov, General Director of Nurlan LLC:
“According to our calculations, the implemented energy-saving measures will allow our residents to pay 20% less for the energy they use than they would pay the Bishkek CHP. I would like the program developers to consider in the future the possibility of subsidizing the purchase of renewable energy equipment of European quality, which would be of serious help for entrepreneurs in Kyrgyzstan”.
Nurlan LLC is bringing innovations through energy-efficient construction in Kyrgyzstan. Thanks to this project, Kyrgyz citizens will be able to learn about the advantages of living in an apartment building built in accordance with international standards, using solar and air energy.
Such houses will be competitive in the housing market. High-quality European equipment provides significant resource-saving, and, importantly, meets the requirements of the KyrSEFF program. According to the consultants of the KyrSEFF program, the measures implemented will result in an annual savings of 110 MWh / yr and CO2 reduction of 5.69 tons.
This project is an example of a subsequent introduction of changes and amendments to the building regulations, namely the heating and hot water supply for apartment buildings. Subsequently, this should lead to an increase in the use of such technologies.