Uzbekistan Planning 300 MW PV Tender

• Uzbekistan is working on launching solar PV tender for up to 300 MW AC capacity for Guzar district
• Successful bidder will set up the project with a PPA contract to be signed with JSC NEGU
• According to the tentative auction process timeline, it will launch the RFQ round in October 2021
• RFO submission deadline of December 2021

The Government of Uzbekistan is getting ready to conduct another solar power tender as part of its plans to install up to 1 GW of PV capacity in the country, with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) providing transaction advisory services.

In a project teaser launched, the Ministry of Energy said it has plans to issue a tender for up to 300 MW AC PV capacity to be built along with a transmission line to the Guzar substation in Guzar district of Kashkadarya region.

The PV plant is likely to be spread on an area of approximately 626 hectares. According to the project teaser shared by the Energy Ministry, "The site has some flooding marks and high slope, and it is preferred to avoid construction at some of these areas. However, the remaining area is expected to be sufficient to set up a PV plant of 250 MW AC-300 MW AC."

The winning bidder will enter into a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Joint Stock Company National Electric Grid of Uzbekistan (JSC NEGU) for 25 years. Interested bidders will need to explain how they plan to get the project financed and submit a signed term-sheet from potential financiers.

As per the indicative timeline of the tender process, the Energy Ministry is likely to launch the request for qualification (RFQ) round in October 2021 with a submission deadline of December 2021. List of pre-qualified bidders will be announced in January 2022 who will then proceed to the request for proposal (RFP) stage that's scheduled to be launched in February 2022. The winning bidder will be announced in June 2022, followed by PPA signing in July 2022.

So far with the ADB's support, out of the 1 GW capacity Uzbekistan has awarded 457 MW to Masdar for Sherabad Solar PV Project, under a competitive auction process for the winning bid of $0.018 per kWh (see Masdar Wins Uzbek's Sherabad Solar Power Auction). Project documentation prepared for the Sherabad project will be used as precedents for the Guzar project.

This auction follows up to 500 MW PV capacity tendered by the Energy Ministry under the World Bank Group's Scaling Solar program in September 2021 that the country is implementing with the International Finance Corporation's support (see PV Tender For Uzbekistan Under Scaling Solar).