Saudi company ACWA Power will build a thermal power plant and two wind farms under a $2.5-billion public-private partnership in Uzbekistan, the Uzbek Ministry of Energy said
TASHKENT (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th January, 2021) Saudi company ACWA Power will build a thermal power plant and two wind farms under a $2.5-billion public-private partnership in Uzbekistan, the Uzbek Ministry of Energy said.
On January 15, the Uzbek government announced plans to build nine new electric power plants this year, including four thermal power plants and two wind farms, with a combined capacity of 1.4 million MW.
"The Ministry of Energy and ACWA Power held a ceremony to launch the construction of the Syrdarya Thermal Power Plant with a power capacity of 1,500 MW," the Uzbek ministry said in a press release.
The ministry expects the new $1.2-billion plant to nearly halve Uzbekistan's consumption of energy from natural gas.
According to the press release, the Uzbek government and ACWA Power have signed another two agreements, worth around $1.3 billion, to build two wind farms in Navoiy and Bukhara, two regions located in Uzbekistan's center-west, with a combined power capacity of 1 GW.
The construction of all three plants has a status of a public-private partnership, the ministry said.
"The implementation of these projects will ensure that power production matches Uzbekistan's demand, which is expected to reach 110 billion kilowatt-hours by 2030," the press release read.
Uzbekistan's electricity grid currently includes 48 stations with a combined capacity of 12.4 GW. This includes 10.6 GW supplied by 10 thermal power plants, and the remaining part comes from hydroelectric power plants and autonomous thermal power plants of industrial facilities.
The electric power demand in Uzbekistan grew 6.1 percent in 2020 to 69.1 billion kilowatt-hours, while the supply grew 5 percent to 66.4 billion kilowatt-hours. Over the past two years, Uzbekistan has resumed electricity imports from neighboring Central Asian countries to cover the gap.
