Chinese company to build solar power plant in Uzbekistan

By  Trend

Uzbekenergo JSC, an energy company, which unites enterprises of Uzbekistan’s power industry, and China’s Zhuhai Singyes Green Building Technology Co. Ltd signed a contract worth $147 million for the design, construction and operation of a solar photovoltaic plant with capacity of 100 megawatts in Samarkand region of Uzbekistan, the country’s energy company told Trend.

Zhuhai Singyes Green Building Technology Co. Ltd won the tender for the construction of the solar photovoltaic plant on a turnkey basis in late 2016, said the representative of the Uzbekenergo JSC.

The total project cost is $200 million. The project will be financed through a loan from the Asian Development Bank in the amount of $110 million, the loan of the Fund for Reconstruction and Development of Uzbekistan and equity of the Uzbekenergo JSC.

It is scheduled to complete the construction of the plant in 2018.

It was previously reported that Uzbekistan plans to build the first solar power plant with a design capacity of 100 megawatts with the power generation exceeding 150 million kilowatt hours per year in the country’s Samarkand region.

Uzbekistan adopted the program on the development of alternative energy sources in 2013.

In particular, construction of the several solar power plants with total capacity of more than two gigawatts, creation of the International Institute for Solar Energy and the construction of the facility on the photovoltaic panel production with the capacity of 100 megawatts is planned within the framework of the program.

Currently, oil and gas account for 97 percent, coal - 2.3 percent and hydropower - 0.7 percent in the structure of primary energy resources of Uzbekistan.

At the same time, the potential of renewable energy sources of Uzbekistan is about 51 billion tons of oil equivalent. Solar energy potential in Uzbekistan, where there are 300 sunny days in a year, is about 50.973 billion tons of oil equivalent.