Baku, Azerbaijan, March 29
By Fakhri Vakilov – Trend:
Over 20 foreign companies submitted applications for the construction of a solar station in the Navoi region of Uzbekistan, Trend reports with reference to the World Bank's message.
On February 1, 2019, Uzbekenergo announced a request for prequalification for the project to build a photovoltaic power plant with a capacity of up to 100 MW under public-private partnership (PPP) conditions.
"Uzbekistan received applications from 23 companies from around the world, including from Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Exceptional interest and a large number of companies demonstrate high investor interest in Uzbekistan. This is a recognition of the government’s strong commitment to expanding the participation of the private sector through open, competitive and a transparent process that inspires confidence in the country's infrastructure development program and leads to an increase in investment ", Regional Director for Central Asia and Europe of International Finance Corporation (IFC), Wiebke Schloemer said.
As a next step, Uzbekenergo will evaluate the applications of companies submitted for prequalification in order to determine which of them meet the criteria set by the government of Uzbekistan for the project and publish a list of companies that have passed this stage. Companies that meet the criteria will be notified and invited to submit bids for further participation in the tender.
IFC in this project provides consulting assistance to the government of Uzbekistan. It will be the first stage of a larger government initiative to create capacities to produce up to 1 gigawatt of solar energy, which will help the country to reduce its dependence on gas and increase the share of renewable energy sources in the structure of power generation.
As a transaction consultant, IFC assists the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade, as well as Uzbekenergo in the design and conduction of a tender for the first in Uzbekistan competitive project on solar energy.
World Bank states that the lack of competition is coupled with the risk of increasing electricity tariffs for countries and slowing down project development. By structuring a transparent and competitive tender, Uzbekenergo will provide a guarantee of obtaining the most competitive electricity prices from private companies, which will help set benchmarks for solar prices in the country.
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