Uzbekistan Green Signals 110 MW Solar PV Plant

Helios Energy will build a 110 MW solar power plant in Uzbekistan after it reached an agreement with the Ministry of Innovative Development, the Thailand based solar EPC company announced. The project will be the second in the country for Helios Energy that previously secured a contract from the Uzbek ministry for a 40 MW utility scale solar project in Namangan, for which it claims to have a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to expand to a total of 360 MW (see Thai Company To Develop 40 MW Solar Farm In Uzbekistan).

The 110 MW project on a close to 80-hectare site is to be built in Sirdarya region with power generated to be supplied to a hotel and casino complex currently under construction. Helios Energy says it plans to set up the project with 220,000 solar panels each with 500 W power output.

Construction on the plant will start early next year when it will start laying cables and aims for a completion date of late 2023.

Of late, Uzbekistan’s solar market has been making news for all the right reasons. Having joined the World Bank’s Scaling Solar program, the country awarded rights to develop 100 MW capacity to Masdar and is now working with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to tender another 900 MW (see Uzbekistan To Tender 900 MW PV Under PPP Model). The overall ambition of the Asian nation is to develop up to 5 GW of solar power capacity by 2030.