In Kyrgyzstan, scarce electricity is sold to a large mining company associated with officials
Amid the energy crisis in Kyrgyzstan, the state is selling electricity to the mining giant Solarcoin, Kloop (an OCCRP partner) found out.
This happens despite the official ban on selling state-owned electricity to miners – companies. which produce cryptocurrency at the expense of the capacities of computer equipment.
In May, Solarcoin ranked second in the list of the largest consumers of electricity in Kyrgyzstan.
Solarcoin is one of only two officially registered mining farms in the country. It buys electricity directly from the National Electricity Grid of Kyrgyzstan (NESK) OJSC, violating the order of the National Energy Holding on April 4, 2019 to ban the sale of state-owned electricity to miners.
Deputy Minister of Energy of Kyrgyzstan Talaibek Baigaziev claims that NESK is a private enterprise, and the order of the National Energy Holding does not apply to it.
Formally, NESK is a joint-stock company, but 93.65 percent of its shares are owned by the state. In addition, NEGK transports and distributes electricity throughout the country, and the networks through which it transmits electricity belong to the state. And the electricity that moves through these networks is generated by state-owned power plants.
Judging by the documents, since April 2023, Solarcoin has been paying for electricity at the official rate, buying a kilowatt-hour at 5.04 soms. But how much the company paid for state electricity before is unknown.
The founders of Solarcoin are NBTS KG, Tatyana Martynova and Lu Jincheng, and the head is Aisana Ismailova.
Tatyana Martynova is a business partner of a member of the Board of Directors of Electric Stations, Honorary Consul of Mongolia in Kyrgyzstan Farhat Iminov and a member of the Board of Directors of the National Electric Grid of Kyrgyzstan Zhyrgalbek Turuskulov.
Aisana Ismailova is also associated with Farhat Iminov: she runs a branch of the international company Gewor Trading LLP, where Iminov is listed as a director.
Previously, Electric Stations tried to place a mining farm directly at the Bishkek thermal power plant. This became known when the workers of the heating plant went to hzikhidtidekrt rally.