Masdar wins big Uzbekistan tender for 457MW solar plant
ABU DHABI, June 2, 2021
Uzbekistan's Ministry of Energy has awarded a major tender to Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) for the construction of a 457 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant in the country's Sherabad district within the Surkhandarya region.
This project is part of a wider programme to construct solar PV plants with a 1 GW capacity.
The programme is being implemented by Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade, with support from the Asian Development Bank.
Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev formally launched the implementation phase of the project on a visit to the site on June 1. This followed his recent announcement on May 31 at the International Summit ‘Partnership for Green Growth and Global Goals – 2030.
Energy Minister Alisher Sultanov said: "Solar power is a priority for Uzbekistan, and we look forward to reaching our target of 1GW set by the programme. Our solar energy strategy will create highly skilled, local clean energy jobs in line with the government’s program for energy diversification."
"The global solar energy market has doubled since 2019, with a record number of new installations targeted. In Uzbekistan, we are very happy to join the international community of solar power generators and have an industrial solar strategy in place," he stated.
According to him, the programme will lower energy costs for the Uzbek population, decrease the country’s dependence on fossil fuels, and reduce overall CO2 emissions.
The project is a key component of Uzbekistan’s ambitious, wider strategy to generate up to 5 GW of environmentally friendly solar generation by 2030, to meet growing electricity demand, he added.
Once complete, the Sherabad plant's annual output will be 1.04 billion kWh which will save 340 million cu m of natural gas per year and provide 300,000 households with electricity.-TradeArabia News Service
