Energy Security in Central Asia: Navigating Competition, Markets and Transitions for Foreign Partners
The report focuses on the challenges for Central Asian states, including: a reliance on a single energy source and fossil fuels, ageing infrastructure, climate and water stress, and investment gaps. Simultaneously, substantial opportunities emerge in renewables, regional electricity integration, critical minerals, uranium, and transport infrastructure.
Outdated Soviet-era power grid infrastructure has created ongoing connectivity challenges. Coupled with environmental challenges and water security challenges, this makes diversification into solar, wind, storage and more flexible grids increasingly important. As a region, Central Asia offers a notable share of global reserves in several critical minerals that support the manufacturing of critical technologies such as nuclear energy, wind turbines, high-efficiency solar cells, battery storage systems and semiconductors.
Major powers including China, Russia, the EU, the US and UK are all seeking deeper economic and strategic relationships in Central Asia, particularly around energy, infrastructure and critical minerals partnerships. Rather than competing with well-established foreign direct investment (FDI) partners on investment scale, opportunities emerge for UK companies in finance, insurance, engineering, professional services, technology, project development, and technical expertise.