ACWA Power to Build 2.6 GW of Solar and Storage Facilities in Uzbekistan

Saudi Arabia flagship company for renewable energy ACWA Power has announced that it has signed agreements under which it will be developing two solar parks and also storage capacities in Uzbekistan.

ACWA Power held that the combined capacity of the solar power projects will be about 1.4 GW. The company will also include battery storage space in the Central Asian country to the tune of 1.2 GW. The information has been shared by the Energy Ministry of Uzbekistan.

As per the plans of ACWA Power, the Tashkent region will see the coming up of a 400-MW solar power project coupled with a 400-MW energy storage system (ESS).

Also, ACWA Power will be constructing a 1,000-MW solar power project and a 400-MW energy storage system in the Samarkand region. The Bukhara region will also have 400 MW of energy storage facility.

It has been revealed that the renewable energy projects will also have the development of power transmission networks.

ACWA Power has signed financial investment deals with the Ministry of Investments, Industry and also Trade, Uzbekistan. These are in addition to offtake take care of National Electric Grid of Uzbekistan for the projects.

The 400-MW solar park that will come up in Tashkent district will be generating about 900 million kWh of electrical power every year when it's up and running. The company said that this will replace about 257 million cubic meters of natural gas furthering the decarbonisation of the economy.

ACWA Power said that it looks to support Uzbekistan's goal to increase the share of renewables in the national power mix to 35 per cent by 2030.

Last December, ACWA Power Company inked a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the National Electric Grid of Uzbekistan (NEGU) for a value of $2.40 billion. Under the scheme of things, it had purchased three wind energy special purpose vehicles (SPVs) for the development of 1.5 GW of cumulative wind capacity in Kungrad district.