Representatives from seven Central Asian universities attended the 25th Wind & Solar Integration Workshop in Porto from 29 September to 2 October to discuss research cooperation on integrating renewable energy into power systems.
More than 400 experts took part in the event, which included over 200 technical presentations on incorporating wind and solar electricity into national grids, the European External Action Service (EEAS) announced on Tuesday.
The universities represented were Nazarbayev University and Satbayev University in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz State Technical University, Tajik Technical University, the State Energy Institute of Turkmenistan, Tashkent State Technical University in Uzbekistan, and the Institute of Energy Problems of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan.
Their participation was supported through the EU4SustainableCentralAsia: Renewable Energy in Central Asia project, known as EURECA, which is commissioned by Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, co-funded by the European Union and implemented by GIZ.
Central Asia – EU session on grid integration
A dedicated session hosted by EURECA was titled “Powering the Energy Transition: Building Central Asia – EU Research Partnerships for Renewable Energy and Regional Grid Integration.”
The session covered challenges around “flexibility” in power systems — the ability of electricity grids to balance supply and demand as wind and solar generation rises — and included research using dispatch modelling, a method for simulating how power plants are scheduled to meet demand.
The modelling presented looked at large-scale wind and solar integration in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and was carried out jointly with the Coordinating Dispatch Center Energiya in Tashkent.
A panel discussion included researchers and university representatives from Central Asia alongside European partners, including Manfred Spiesberger of the Centre for Social Innovation in Vienna, with participants also discussing opportunities to develop joint proposals under Horizon Europe, the EU’s research funding programme.
The discussions contributed to work on a proposed Central Asia – EU research network for renewable energy, including potential collaboration between universities, shared research databases and infrastructure, exchange programmes and researcher mobility.
The workshop took place as EU – Central Asia cooperation expands in areas including energy, climate, science and innovation, and leaders at the first EU – Central Asia Summit in April 2025 agreed to strengthen cooperation in research and education through programmes including Horizon Europe.
