Uzbekistan’s environmental protection and green recovery are high on the Central Asian country’s priorities, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said in his speech on May 30 at the Second International Summit “Partnership for Green Growth and Global Goals-2030” (P4G) in Seoul.
At the same time, Uzbekistan has an idea of the real state of affairs and what should be done to mitigate the consequences of the ongoing processes caused by climate change.
Uzbekistan’s commitment to fulfilling its commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 under the Paris Agreement was also confirmed.
In this context, Mirziyoyev tried to draw the attention of his colleagues from other countries to the difficult problems troubling the Central Asian region, without which the situation cannot be corrected. The Uzbek President called for the need to overcome the global consequences of the Aral Sea disaster, the region of which was recently declared a zone of environmental innovation and technology by the UN General Assembly.
The Uzbek President also expressed concern about the reduction in the flow of transboundary rivers and biodiversity in Central Asia, which is also one of the most pressing problems in the region. Therefore, the Head of Uzbekistan announced an ambitious goal – to increase the share of renewable energy sources in the country’s economy by more than 3 times in the next 10 years.
In addition, taking into account the fact that Uzbekistan is one of the youngest countries in the world in terms of the age of the population, Mirziyoyev put forward an initiative to launch a special program to attract young people to create a green economy to form a culture of green consumption.
He noted that, if successfully implemented, this scheme, i.e. the development of environmental innovations and technologies in the Aral Sea region, the increase in renewable energy sources and the involvement of young people in the creation of a green economy will have an extremely positive effect.
Uzbekistan awards tender for construction of 457 MW solar energy plant
Mirziyoyev formally launched the implementation phase of a project to construct a 457 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant, in the Sherabad district of the Surkhandarya region, during a visit to the site on June 1. This followed his recent announcement on May 31 at the International Summit ‘Partnership for Green Growth and Global Goals – 2030’ that Uzbekistan plans to host an international conference ‘Green Energy for Developing Countries’ next year.
Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) has won the tender for the construction of the project.
The Sherabad project is part of a wider Programme to construct solar PV plants with a total capacity of 1 GW. The programme is being implemented by Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade, with support from the Asian Development Bank.
“Solar power is a priority for Uzbekistan, and we look forward to reaching our target of 1GW set by the Programme,” Uzbekistan’s Energy Minister Alisher Sultanov said. “Our solar energy strategy will create highly skilled, local clean energy jobs in line with the government’s program for energy diversification,” he added.
The global solar energy market has doubled since 2019, with a record number of new installations targeted. “In Uzbekistan, we are very happy to join the international community of solar power generators and have an industrial solar strategy in place,” Sultanov said.
The Program will lower energy costs for the Uzbek population, decrease the country’s dependence on fossil fuels, and reduce overall CO2 emissions, the Uzbek Ministry said, noting that the project is a key component of Uzbekistan’s ambitious, wider strategy to generate up to 5 GW of environmentally friendly solar generation by 2030, to meet growing electricity demand.
Once complete, the Sherabad plant’s annual output will be 1.04 billion kWh which will save 340 million cubic meters of natural gas per year and provide 300,000 households with electricity.
According to the ministry, 54 international companies originally expressed interest in the project. Following a careful selection process, five short-listed candidates submitted final commercial, technical and financial proposals. As a result, Masdar was awarded the tender to construct the 457 MW plant with a proposed energy charge (tariff) of US 1.8045 cents per kWh.
The project also includes construction of a new 220 kV substation and a 52 km transmission line to connect to the 500 kV Surkhan substation.
To compare, other bidders’ proposals were 3.3940, 2.4825 and 2.1621 cents per kWh.
