Uzbekistan has stepped into another phase of the International Finance Corporation's (IFC) Scaling Solar Initiative with Joint Stock Company National Electric Grid of Uzbekistan (JSC NEGU) launching solar power tender for up to 500 MW capacity. It will be spread across 3 locations in Namangan, Bukhara and Khorezm regions, according to the request for qualification (RFQ) documents issued.
Among the projects, Khorezm facility is expected to have a capacity of close to 100 MW AC, Namangan site to have 150 MW AC, and around 250 MW AC for the Bukhara site. The Bukhara project is currently planned to have solar PV capacity paired with 63 MW battery storage. Actual energy storage capacity will be defined in the request for proposal (RFP) round.
Special purpose companies will be set up by winning private sector developers to execute the projects on build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) on land to be leased by JSC NEGU which will also be the offtaker of all energy to be generated by the projects.
Last date to submit prequalification documents is November 29, 2021. Tender details are available on the Ministry of Energy's website.
Under Scaling Solar program, Uzbekistan has awarded 540 MW solar capacity so far, all of which was won by Abu Dhabi's Masdar (see Masdar Wins Uzbek's Sherabad Solar Power Auction). Of this, 100 MW Nur Navoi project was recently grid connected as the country's 1st utility scale solar power plant (see 100 MW Nur Navoi Solar Project Online In Uzbekistan).
Encouraged by the low electricity tariffs renewables are fetching and the ever increasing demand for energy, Uzbekistan is considering expanding its renewables targets. For solar PV it could mean an increase to 7 GW, up from currently envisaged 5 GW by 2030 (see Uzbekistan May Increase Renewable Energy Targets For 2030).
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