ACWA Power says it will develop three PV projects in Tashkent and Samarkand, Uzbekistan. It will also install storage capacity in Tashkent, Bukhara and Samarkand.
Saudi Arabian energy giant ACWA Power says it has secured several power purchase agreements (PPAs) for 1.4 GW of solar power and 1.5 GWh of storage capacity from Uzbekistan’s Joint-Stock Company (JSC) National Electric Grid of Uzbekistan (NEGU) and the country's Ministry of Investment, Industry and Trade.
The solar capacity will be distributed across three PV projects in Tashkent and Samarkand. The storage capacity will be installed in Tashkent, Bukhara and Samarkand.
“The Tashkent projects will include a 400 MW PV plant and 500 MWh BESS, while two 500 MW PV projects each and a 500 MWh BESS will be developed in Samarkand,” the company said in a statement. “Another 500 MWh BESS will be located in Bukhara, and the project will include overhead transmission lines to help dispatch power to the grid.”
ACWA did not reveal any additional details about the projects.
Uzbekistan is currently supporting large-scale PV through a series of auctions. The latest procurement exercise assigned 500 MW of solar projects in the Namangan, Bukhara, and Khorezm regions. Abu Dhabi-based developer Masdar secured the project in the Bukhara region with a bid of $0.03044/kWh. The 250 MW plant will be connected to a 62 MW storage facility.
A consortium led by PowerChina secured the 150 MW project in Uzbekistan’s Namangan region. The group offered a final price of $0.04828/kWh. French developer Voltalia won the project in the Khorezm region with a bid of $0.02888/kWh.
The country aims to deploy 8 GW of solar by 2030. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the country had only installed 104 MW of solar by the end of 2021.
