Uzbekistan: plans to bid for another 900MW photovoltaic project

    The Ministry of Energy of Uzbekistan revealed that it is planning to launch another two rounds of solar tenders for the construction of large-scale Solar At Home power plants. The first round of bidding is planned for the Bukhara, Khwarazmo and Namangan regions-the Uzbek government hopes to deploy 500MW of photovoltaic facilities in these places; the second round of procurement is expected to be in Kaskar Daria Deploy 400MW of installed solar capacity in the Ergana region. But more details have not been disclosed yet.

    The ministry disclosed in a separate statement that there are currently 1297MW solar parks under construction, including a 100MW power plant in the Navoi region. The project is scheduled to be completed in September 2021; A photovoltaic park with the same capacity of 100MW in Marhan area is planned to be put into use in December 2021; Nurata district in Navoi area has a 200MW solar farm, which is planned to be connected to the grid in the second quarter of 2023; A 457MW solar park located in the Surkhandarya area is scheduled to be completed in the second quarter of 2023; and two photovoltaic power plants located in Samarkand and Jizzakh, each with a capacity of 220MW. Will be connected to the grid in the fourth quarter of this year.

    The country’s bidding plan will grant successful developers a 25-year power purchase agreement and will be supported by international loan structures including the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Uzbekistan’s goal is to deploy 5GW of solar energy by 2030. According to the latest statistics released by the International Renewable Energy Agency, as of the end of 2020, the total installed capacity of solar power in the country was only 4MW, while no new photovoltaic projects were registered nationwide last year.