- Uzbekistan has announced commissioning of 100 MW Nur Navoi Solar Project in Navoi
- It calls the project as the country’s 1st utility scale solar power plant and also the 1st successfully financed IPP facility
- Built by Masdar, the company plans to commission 440 MW more under Scaling Solar initiative by Q1/2023
Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Energy has inaugurated what it calls is the country’s maiden utility scale solar power plant with 100 MW capacity. It is also the country’s 1st successfully financed independent power producer (IPP) solar project, it added in a statement released by the ministry.
The 100 MW solar power plant Nur Navoi Solar (PV) Project has been built by Abu Dhabi’s Masdar in Uzebkistan’s Navoi region that it won in October 2019 under a competitive auction for offering $0.027 per kWh winning bid as part of the Scaling Solar initiative of the World Bank (see Masdar Wins Scaling Solar Uzbekistan Auction).
Inaugurated by the Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on August 27, 2021, the project when fully operational is expected to generate enough electricity for 31,000 homes. Masdar is also working on 3 other major utility scale projects awarded by the government for Jizzakh (220 MW), Samarkand (220 MW) both of which are expected to start commercial operations in Q1/2023 and were awarded under Scaling Solar Initiative, and Sherabad (457 MW) (see Masdar Wins Uzbek’s Sherabad Solar Power Auction).
“In the next 5 years, we plan to increase our economy’s growth rate by 1.5 times, and bring GDP to at least $100 billion. Thousands of new industrial enterprises, both medium and large will be launched, and electricity demand is set to reach 100 billion kilowatt-hours – 30 billion more than now,” said Mirziyoyev. “Therefore, we have very big plans for new reforms and projects in the electric power industry. In the next five years, 19 projects worth $6.5 billion will be launched to create 11,500 MW of new capacity.”
Increase in demand for electricity and low tariffs discovered in the competitive PV tenders is inspiring Uzbekistan to consider expanding solar PV target for the nation from 5 GW to 7 GW by 2030 as it eyes 25% of its energy consumption coming from renewables by 2030 (see Uzbekistan May Increase Renewable Energy Targets For 2030).
