Ekibastuz, Pavlodar, Kazakhstan

🇰🇿 Ekibastuz is a town in Pavlodar Region, north-eastern Kazakhstan. Ekibastuz is served by Ekibastuz Airport.

Industry The Vostochny Coal Mine company is located in Ekibastuz. Today Ekibastuz is the biggest open-cast coal field and one of the most perspective open-cast coal regions in the world. It contains more than 13 billion tons of coal in the area of 62 square kilometers. In other words, there are 74 million tons of coal per km³. Near Ekibastuz there are two coal fired power plants: GRES-1, with installed capacity of 4,000 MW, and GRES-2, with an installed capacity of 1,000 MW. GRES-2 has the tallest chimney in the world (419.7 m). The construction of GRES-2 was part of a Program for Ekibastuz coalfield development, foreseeing to be built four thermal power plants, each one of 4,000 MW (8 units x 500 MWe). In years 1991–93 only Units No 1 and 2 were commissioned. The construction of Unit No 3 was started 1990 but later stopped. From Ekibastuz to Kokshetau runs an overhead power line designed for a transmission voltage of 1,150 kV, the Ekibastuz-Kokshetau powerline.

Located in a naturally arid area, the city of Ekibastuz and its industries are supplied with water primarily from the Irtysh River, via the Irtysh–Karaganda Canal, which passes about 10 km (6 mi) north of Ekibastuz, where a number of water reservoirs are located.

In 2021 Kazakhstan became the second biggest crypto-currency mining country in the world, thanks partly to a vast mine containing 50,000 computers in the desert near Ekibastuz.