EBRD Financing For ‘Largest’ BESS In Central Asia

• The EBRD has arranged a financing package of up to $229.4 million for a solar and storage project in Uzbekistan  
• The ACWA Power facility comprises 200 MW solar PV and 500 MWh BESS in Tashkent  
• The developer said it has now covered more than 2/3rds of the project cost with debt  

ACWA Power Riverside Solar has secured the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) as the financier of what the latter calls the largest of its kind battery energy storage system (BESS) facility in Central Asia, supporting a utility-scale solar PV plant.  

A special purpose vehicle (SPV) of Saudi Arabia's energy group ACWA Power, ACWA Power Riverside Solar is to build a 200 MW solar PV plant and 500 MWh BESS project in Uzbekistan's Tashkent region. On completion, it is expected to generate up to 418 GWh of electricity annually.  

It is seen as enabling Uzbekistan's reliance on carbon-intensive thermal power generation while transitioning to a low-carbon economy. The use of BESS will also lend reliability to the intermittent nature of renewables in its connection to the power grid.   

The EBRD has arranged a facility of up to $229.4 million for the project's development, design, construction and operation. The package comprises up to a $183.5 million A-loan from the EBRD, and a B-loan of up to $40.5 million to be syndicated to commercial co-financiers.  

Along with the EBRD, ACWA Power signed financing documents with the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), DEG, Proparco, Standard Chartered, and KfW-IPEX Bank.  

Finland is also willing to shell out €5 million ($5.4 million) as concessional finance under the EBRD's High Impact Partnership on Climate Action (HIPCA) for the Uzbek project.  

The Saudi-listed company said it has now completed the dry financial close for the greenfield $533 million Tashkent Riverside Project. Its total debt from the signings stands at $386 million, accounting for more than 2/3rds of its total cost.   

"The project is core to Uzbekistan's ambition to install 25 GW of renewables by 2030. This project can power 170,000 households and the battery storage capacity is equivalent to 8,000 electric vehicles," said the Managing Director of the EBRD's Sustainable Infrastructure Group, Nandita Parshad.    

Back in 2023, ACWA Power had signed power purchase agreements (PPA) with the National Electric Grid of Uzbekistan (NEGU) for 1.4 GW solar PV and 1.5 GWh BESS capacity. It referred to the solar PV capacity of the Tashkent project back then as 400 MW (see Uzbekistan Firms Up Plans For GW-Scale Solar & Storage).