DUSHANBE, Tajikistan, December 10. Tajikistan and Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power held discussions in Riyadh on scaling up cooperation in renewable energy, with a focus on advancing solar and wind power projects in Tajikistan, Trend reports via the Tajik Ministry of Finance.
The talks took place on the sidelines of the Conference on Financial Development during a meeting between Tajikistan’s Minister of Finance Fayziddin Qahhorzoda and ACWA Power CEO Marco Accelli. The sides reviewed current directions of collaboration and outlined plans to accelerate work between Tajikistan’s sectoral ministries and the Saudi energy company.
Qahhorzoda emphasized the importance of expanding investment in clean energy as Tajikistan increases its focus on hydropower diversification and long-term energy security. The parties agreed to deepen cooperation on project development, feasibility studies, and future investment opportunities.
ACWA Power, one of the world’s largest developers of renewable energy infrastructure, operates in 14 countries with a project portfolio exceeding $100 billion. The company specializes in large-scale solar and wind generation, as well as energy storage systems - areas Tajikistan aims to strengthen as part of its national strategy to boost renewable capacity.
Further technical consultations between Tajik and Saudi institutions are expected to follow to advance concrete project proposals.
Tajikistan's current electricity generation is overwhelmingly dominated by hydropower, accounting for over 90% of total electricity generation. While this provides clean energy, the dependence leads to annual winter energy shortages (the "energy limit") when water levels are low, necessitating urgent diversification.
Tajikistan has set an ambitious goal to diversify its generation sources, specifically aiming for 10% of generating capacity to come from non-hydropower renewable energy by 2030. To achieve this, the country has announced a target of generating 3,000 MW of electricity from solar and wind power plants by 2030. This massive push for non-hydro renewables requires attracting major international developers like ACWA Power, which has committed to projects in neighboring Uzbekistan totaling over 2.5 GW in recent years.
As of late 2024, solar production in Tajikistan remained minimal, with small pilot projects like the 220-kilowatt Murghab solar power plant being the largest operational facilities, while no substantial wind energy generation facilities have yet been operationalized. This indicates the cooperation with ACWA Power is aimed at creating large-scale, utility-level capacity rather than incremental additions.