"The project we announced today marks a further step towards growing Eni's renewable generation capacity, while supporting Kazakhstan's decarbonisation path," Eni Chief Executive Claudio Descalzi said.

Neither the Kazakh authorities nor KMG could immediately be contacted for comment.

The facility, the first of this kind in Kazakhstan, is intended for the domestic production and the supply of low-carbon electricity, Eni said. It will have capacity of 250 megawatts and include solar and wind power generation, as well as a gas power plant.

Eni has been present in Kazakhstan since 1992, where it is a joint operator of the Karachaganak gas field and an equity partner in projects in the northern Caspian Sea, including the Kashagan giant gas field.

Eni operates through Arm Wind in the Kazakh renewables sector with an overall installed or under-construction capacity of 150 MW.

(Reporting by Federica Urso, editing by Gianluca Semeraro and Barbara Lewis)