Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Nov. 23
By Demir Azizov- Trend:
The first solar power plant in Uzbekistan with capacity of 100 megawatt will be constructed no earlier than 2019, according to a press-release of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) published on Nov.23 during the Sixth Asia Solar Energy Forum that is being held on Nov.20-23 in Tashkent.
"This project will take five years and the supposed completion time is March 2019," a message from the ADB said.
The ADB and the government of Uzbekistan have signed a loan agreement on allocation of around $110 million worth of loan for construction of solar photoelectric power station in the Samarkand region.
Alongside the ADB loans, the construction will be financed with the loans of the Fund for Reconstruction and Development of Uzbekistan and own funds of "Uzbekenergo" JSC.
There was worked out a complex of measures for the development of alternative energy resources in Uzbekistan in early 2013.
In addition, it is planned to construct several solar power plants with total capacity of over two gegawatt, to create an International Solar Energy Institute and to construct enterprises for production of photoelectric panels with capacity of 100 megawatt.
Currently there is around 97 percent of oil and gas, 2.3 percent of coal and 0.7 percent of hydro power in the structure of Uzbekistan's primary fuel and energy resources.
Meanwhile, Uzbekistan's renewable energy source potential is nearly 51 billion tons in oil equivalent.
The solar energy potential in the republic where the number of sunny days is 300 days a year is around 50.973 billion tons in oil equivalent.