Amidst Kazakhstan's struggle to develop itself as an independent nation after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the country found fortune in its abundant land and natural resources. One prominent source of wealth and factor leading to Kazakhstan's post-Soviet economic development was the discovery of fossil fuels in Kazakhstan. Massive reserves of oil, anthracite and coal helped the country to maintain economic and political independence shortly after establishing sovereignty.
Since then, however, those fossil fuels have created a larger problem for the nation and the world. In recent years, Kazakhstan has embarked on a greater effort to develop its energy infrastructure to rely less on fossil fuels and more on clean energy.
Currently, Kazakhstan's energy infrastructure is outdated and inefficient. The country relies most heavily on coal for its electricity generation and experiences frequent power and heat outages. In fact, halfway through my summer program in Almaty, my host family and I moved apartments due to this problem. At our old apartment, we began losing our power more and more often. Most days, we experienced at least one power outage. On other days, the power alternated between on and off every few minutes for a half an hour.
