Uzbekistan, Tashkent, Sept. 30 /Trend D.Azizov/
The Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan and the State Joint-Stock Company (SJSC) Uzbekenergo will be the initial co-founders of the International Institute for Solar Energy, created in Uzbekistan.
This is envisaged in the decree of Uzbek Cabinet of Ministers 'On the measures on establishment of the International Solar Energy Institute', which was released on Monday.
According to the decree, the initial share of the Academy of Sciences in the statutory fund of the Institute, created in the form of a limited liability company, will be 51 percent, and Uzbekenergo's share will be 49 percent.
In the future, the founders of the Institute may include international and foreign government agencies, financial institutions, foundations, academic and research centres, investors, businesses and other interested entities, the document said.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has provided the government of Uzbekistan with a $3 million grant for the establishment of the International Solar Energy Institute.
Implementation of high-tech developments in the field of industrial application of solar energy is one of the main objectives of the institute.
The institute will also conduct applied researches, related to the use of solar energy in various sectors of economy and coordinate the development of documentation for major projects in the field of solar energy.
It was previously reported that, a set of measures for development of alternative sources of energy was developed in Uzbekistan in early 2013.
In particular, it is planned to create an enterprise for production of photovoltaic panels with capacity of 100 MW and the construction of a solar photovoltaic power plant with capacity of 100 MW in Samarkand oblast.
At the moment, some 97 percent of country's primary energy resources are occupied by oil and gas, 2.3 percent - coal, 0.7 percent - hydropower.
The share of renewable energy in Uzbekistan does not exceed one percent.
According to the Center for Economic Research (CER) of Uzbekistan, with current trends and consumption of resources, reserves of natural gas and coal in Uzbekistan will last only for the next 20-30 years, while oil reserves are almost depleted.
At the same time, the potential of renewable energy sources in Uzbekistan is about 51 billion tons of oil equivalents, technical capacity - 17,982.3 million tons of oil equivalents. The solar energy potential of the country where there are 300 sunny days a year is about 51 billion tons of oil equivalents.