In Tashkent, an investment agreement was signed between the Ministry of Investments and Foreign Trade of Uzbekistan and Masdar (UAE) on the construction of a photovoltaic station with a total capacity of 100 MW in the Navoi region.

The ministry said that Masdar is investing up to $100 million in the construction of the facility.  

It should be recalled that on October 4, 2019, the Emirati company was declared a winner of the first open tender in the history of Uzbekistan for attracting investments in public-private partnership (PPP) in solar energy. 

Masdar came up with a proposal to supply solar energy for just 2,679 US cents per kilowatt hour, which is one of the lowest tariffs in emerging markets. Masdar will carry out the design, financing, construction and operation of the power plant throughout the project implementation period (25 years). 

Start of the construction work is expected in the first quarter of 2020 with commissioning of the power plant by the first quarter of 2021.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) was involved as a consultant on the transaction, assisting the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade in developing relevant documentation and conducting tenders, in which more than 40 companies from different countries participated. 

It should be recalled that on October 18, the Government of Uzbekistan in Washington signed a mandate with the IFC on development of up to 900 MW of solar energy through PPP projects.

In the coming months, tenders are expected to start on the basis of a public-private partnership (PPP) for two more projects in the field of solar energy with a capacity of up to 200 MW each in the Samarkand and Jizzakh regions, followed by an additional round of 500 MW capacity. In total, the energy sector will attract about $1 billion of foreign direct investment.