Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 14
By Fikret Dolukhanov – Trend:
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, will support construction of a solar power station in Navoi region of Uzbekistan with a capacity of up to 100 megawatts, Uzbek media reported referring to the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers.
According to the document, an agreement has been concluded between the State Committee for Investments, state energy operator Uzbekenergo and IFC on providing financial advisory services by IFC in attraction of private investors on a competitive basis for design, financing, construction and operation of solar power facilities worth up to $1 billion on the basis of public-private partnership.
Within the framework of the agreement, a pilot project to attract private investments for construction of a solar power plant with a capacity of up to 100 megawatts in Navoi region is planned to be implemented.
In accordance with the road map, an international tender for the project will be conducted in March 2019. It is expected that the agreement on the project with an investor will be signed in August 2019.
The Uzbek government is planning to hold talks with IFC in September 2019 on terms, volumes and timing of the agreement on other solar power plants with a total capacity of up to 900 megawatts.
In Spring 2018, an agreement was signed with the Canadian SkyPower Global for construction of facilities for generation of solar energy with a total capacity of 1,000 megawatts. The company is intending to invest $1.3 billion in construction of facilities in Tashkent, Samarkand, Navoi, Jizzakh, Surkhandarya and Kashkadarya regions.
Construction of Central Asia's first solar power plant in the Samarkand region of Uzbekistan was announced in 2014.
In 2016, it was reported that the tender for construction was won by the Chinese Zhuhai Singyes Green Building Technology. The project worth $275.8 million was to be financed through loans from the Asian Development Bank and by the Fund for Reconstruction and Development of Uzbekistan and Uzbekenergo.
Later, however, as a result of careful examination of technical and economic documents related to the project, it was found that the project should be revised, resulting in construction of a solar power plant in the Samarkand region being suspended.
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