History: Isakhan Syrgabayev, Director of CHPP-1 in the period of 2007-2016 and 2018-2022 and Director of ZTC JSC in the period of 2022-2024

I have been working in the energy sector all my life, I can say that this profession is my life. In 2024, I had my 42nd occupational health checkup. Although it has been more than forty years since I joined the power industry, I remember well my first steps in the profession. I remember how they prepared us for our work, how they taught us responsibility and fostered a respectful attitude to it.

In the early 80’s, when I just started my professional career at CHPP-2, I passed the shift supervisor’s exams 17 times only for a boiler operator. I was an auxiliary equipment operator at that time, but Valery Ivanovich Verzhuk, a senior machinist, for some reason immediately decided to train me as a boiler operator. So, only after the 17th time he said to the shop chief and deputy chief: “Here, Isakhan, he can work not only as a bypasser, but also as a boiler driver and a senior driver”. They say that even before I came to the station, the employees were trained in the same strict way.

This is a good school, and we have preserved such approaches in AlES JSC. Even now the training of specialists is still top-notch. We train a wide range of specialists, because a power engineer can be a turbine operator, boiler operator, electrician, instrumentation and control engineer, mode operator …

At first a candidate undergoes an internship, and then passes the exams. If he/she fails, he/she goes back to the internship. We have maintained strict responsible approaches to personnel training. After passing the exam, a young specialist is given time to duplicate. A corresponding order is written stating that the mentor is responsible for the trainee. Then there are emergency drills. And if the trainee fails to pass all the stages, not only he is penalized, but also the mentor is penalized for having poorly prepared him.

At that time, when I worked at CHPP-2 as a bypasser, machinist, shop manager, very big works were carried out at the station, which was a part of Almaty Energo, including modernization, new construction. In those years a new building of chemical shop was built, new equipment was supplied, and reconstruction of raw coal hoppers was realized …

It was at CHPP-2 that I made my major career path and professional development, and grew up to the position of Chief Engineer. CHPP-2 is a unique facility. Its peculiarity is that the station is buried 12 meters deep. There is nowhere else in the world like it. But it is not easy to study and work in the power industry. To be honest, I wanted to quit more than once, but thanks to Valery Ivanovich, I stayed and grew professionally at CHPP-2. That’s probably why, on February 15, 2007, when “AlES” JSC was formed, I was appointed to the position of Director of CHPP-1, where I worked until May 2022 with a short break. I have very bright and fascinating pages of my life connected with this station.

I remember that in 2010 we held an event dedicated to the 75 th anniversary of CHPP-1, and in 2015 – to its 80th anniversary. These events inspired people, especially veterans of the power industry, who have been working here for many years, but also create entire dynasties of power engineers.

CHPP-1 is not only the first in Almaty, but also one of the oldest stations in Kazakhstan. The oldest CHPPs in the country are Balkhash and Ust-Kamenogorsk. But, as it happens, it was at Almaty CHPP-1 that personnel for the energy industry of Kazakhstan were trained. To be more precise, we trained them for ourselves, but a person works for us for 2-3 years, gains experience, and then he is lured to other regions or other spheres. Such as oil production and the gas industry.

One of the important issues that I had to deal with at CHPP-1 was improving the environmental friendliness of the plant. When in the early 30s of the twentieth century they built the station on the outskirts of the city, this topic was not on the agenda. But over time, the CHPP turned out to be in the city center. That is why we together with our colleagues started to solve environmental issues with modernization of ash collecting plants. The obvious and effective solution at that time was the installation of emulsifiers of the 2 nd generation with a high degree of ash collection – up to 99.4%. Costs for these works, at that time, were decent. But we managed to do it.

Another problem, which I faced when I headed the station, was the rapid filling of the ash dump, which was located in the village of Ulzhan. In 2007, when we were still working on coal, the construction of the ash dump was already a matter of life and death. The question was as follows: if we don’t build the ash dump, if we don’t empty the bowl, we have to stop CHPP-1. And untill 2007 Maslikhat of Almaty did not allow to work on coal in summer time (in this season there is a surplus of gas, and technology allowed to work on it), but from October 15 till April 15 we were able to use it. This meant that ash was arriving, and we had to remove millions of cubic meters of ash to the site of CHPP-2, to reclaim the territory of the ash dump.

Then in cooperation with the managers and employees of AlES we obtained permits for ash removal to the area of CHPP-2, for solving other issues related to ecology and modernization. And the funds for the construction of the ash dump were allocated from the republican budget – in the amount of billions of tenge.

Then, when we built the ash dump, it worked for a few years, but since the station was later fully gasified, in 2017-18 we after-burned the remaining coal at the station.

And after this problem was solved, other difficult issues arose. The transition to gas led to the fact that the fuel and transportation shop was no longer needed at CHPP-1. The change of fuel type led to the fact that there was no need in many types of the existing powerful equipment, conveyors, crushers, Bulldozer Park, boiler shop, dust preparation system. This was good, on the one hand, because all this required large financial expenditures, annual overhauls. Now the funds were channeled to other purposes.

But, on the other hand, not only outdated technologies and material resources became no longer needed, there was a problem of employment of the employees released as a result of transformations. These were about 130 people from the fuel and transportation and boiler shops. Most of them were professionals with many years of experience, high ability to work and responsibility. Therefore, the most important task of that modernization was the employment of people. This issue was solved by the whole of ALES, starting with the Chairman of the Board. The company declared a moratorium on hiring personnel from outside. As a result, we employed some people at Cascade HPP. The main part of the personnel went to TPP-2 and PRP, TPP-3, some of them were employed at Kapshagay HPP. Thus, we successfully solved this issue, and no one was left without a job.

During my administration it was also decided to build a heat intake facility from CHPP-2. The goal was to let the excess heat of the plant through CHPP-1 to the city. We needed a heat intake facility in order to run an economical, normal operation mode of heat supply to the city. To this end, we implemented a project that allowed us to loop the two stations with 1 meter diameter pipes. The decision was conditioned by the specifics of CHPP-1, as the pipes from this plant branch to all parts of the city. We implemented this project in 2012, and now the heat from CHPP-2 goes to CHPP-1. We return part of the heat back to CHPP-2, where it is heated to the required temperature, and the circulation of heat through the pipes continues.

This was a very Soviet time project. It was aimed at utilizing the locked capacity at CHPP-2 more efficiently, which was beneficial and economical. But there was no financial possibility to realize the project back in the 90s. Not only was there no money to finance such works, we did not even receive salaries for months. Therefore, much later, after the launch of the idea, the Almaty City Council, Samruk-Energy JSC and AlES JSC found the financial means and implemented this program.

This task was also facilitated by the fact that in due time a decision was made to unite the city’s energy sources into AlES JSC, creating a legal entity. This approach allows solving production issues as well as financing issues in an integrated way.

Since those times one curious event remains in my memory, when I, as a director, could not enter the territory of the station. On that day, there were training activities with the participation of the State Emergency Situations Committee, and all the services and patrol cars showed up. I was blocked at the entrance, as I had left my qualification certificate in the car as if on purpose. Minister for Emergency Situations Bozhko, Deputy Minister Petrov, and also participated Zamakima of Almaty M. Mukashev came to the site, I had to get there, but how! They wouldn’t let me in – it’s not allowed!

I was lucky enough when our guys from “Kuzet” ran out from the station and proved that I was who i was and only then the policemen let me through! But, on the other hand, it showed how responsible people are in the performance of their duties. I can say that all this knowledge and algorithms came in handy later on: during the pandemic, and in time of the pandemic.

Those were tough challenges for us. For example, during the pandemic, many people could not leave for their shifts, to replace their colleagues who had worked. And those, in turn, were unable to go home, because many of them lived outside the city limits! Then we promptly prepared a duty car, as well as personal cars just in case, and solved issues with travel permits. They would inform us where they were, we would pick them up, and we would look for substitutes who could do their work instead of their sick colleagues.

… I used to say back in the day that I was the grandfather of CHPP-1, referring to the age of the plant. Although I was a young director then, the directors of other enterprises of AlES were older than me. For example, Bolat Ualikhanovich Mukaev headed the HPP Cascade, Dmitry Pavlovich Karpov worked as director at CHPP-3, Vasily Vasiliyevich Kaznacheev worked at Kapshagayskaya HPP, but I told them playfully: “you are my children” as their enterprises are younger than CHPP-1. And to the managers of CHPP-2 and PRP – 80s of construction, I used to say: “you are my grandchildren! Don’t contradict your grandfather, respect me!”.

Today I am happy and proud that my work was for the benefit of the city, for the benefit of my fellow countrymen. I am happy that I was able to share my experience with young power engineers and pass on my knowledge to them. And I am happy that many talented power engineers took part in my professional destiny. Among them there are Valery Ivanovich Verzhuk, Byrlyk Esirkepovich Orazbayev, who once headed CHPP-2, Nurlan Taufikovich Mukhamed-Rakhimov, who headed AlES JSC for a long time, Serik Suinbekovich Tyutebaev, Chairman of the Board of Samruk-Energy JSC… We worked with them at different times, and I learned my profession from many of them. Valery Sauranovich Torlambayev and Ahat Nihatovich Kalendarev were also my mentors.

Back in my time I thought that it would be nice to assign the name of Byrlyk Yesirkepovich Orazbayev – one of the best power engineers of Kazakhstan – to the station of CHPP-1, which he used to direct. After all, he came to the station as a young man, working as a bypasser, and then he was a machinist, a senior shift supervisor, headed the technical maintenance department, worked as a chief engineer. And his staff elected the director of the station for the first time in the history of power engineering. His contribution to the Almaty power industry is colossal. I have been moving this issue for many years, and I am glad that the idea found support in the professional environment. And today CHPP-1 bears his name! I think it is important not only for the power engineers themselves, but also for the country, which appreciates people who contributed a lot to its development …