Abu Dhabi: Masdar has announced on Tuesday that it is the winning bidder to develop Uzbekistan’s first public-private partnership (PPP) solar project under the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) Scaling Solar programme.
Announced by the Ministry of Investments and Foreign Trade of Uzbekistan, Masdar tendered the lowest tariff in the programme’s competitive auction to develop the 100-megawatt (MW) utility-scale solar plant, which will be located in the Navoi region.
Mohammad Al Ramahi, CEO of Masdar, said: “Masdar is honoured to have been named as the winning bidder for the 100MW Navoi solar plant. For more than a decade, Masdar has been a catalyst for renewable energy and clean-tech innovation in more than 25 countries and this PPP agreement underscores our shared commitment with the Uzbekistan Government to help the country achieve its renewable energy ambitions.”
The project supports Uzbekistan’s ambitious plan to develop 5 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy by 2030 to diversify the country’s energy mix. Under the Scaling Solar approach, Uzbekistan is aiming to develop up to 1GW of solar power and the 100MW solar plant in Navoi is the first step in this strategy.
“Uzbekistan has made a solid step towards the development of an independent power producer’s market with the country’s first open tender public-private partnership,” said Shukhrat Vafaev, deputy minister of Investments and Foreign Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan. “We opened new markets for private sector participation and set a precedent in the country with the announcement of Masdar winning the first transparent and competitive tendered solar power public-private partnership,” he added.
Financial close is expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter in 2020, while construction of the solar plant is estimated to take 12 months.
