Russia will lend Kazakhstan $700 million to build the third energy block of the Ekibastuz power plant, a loan agreement signed on Monday by the Russian and Kazakh presidents said.
The power plant's installed energy capacity is 1000 MW, with its two energy blocks producing about 12 percent of all Kazakh electricity. The third block will increase the plant's installed capacity by 50 percent.
The two units of the Ekibastuz power plant in Kazakhstan's northeastern Pavlodar Province were built in the late 1980s-early 1990s. Construction of the plant's third unit began in 1990 but was subsequently frozen.
The power plant has the world's tallest 420-meter (1,380-feet) high flue gas stack, which is some 38 meters (125 feet) taller than the Inco Superstack in Canada's Sudbury.
On Monday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev also signed an agreement on cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
The two presidents met during a session of the member states of the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC) in Astana.