Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 19
By Fakhri Vakilov - Trend:
Uzbekistan’s Government signed a mandate with the International Finance Corporation (IFC, part of the World Bank Group) in Washington to develop up to 900 MW of solar energy through public-private partnership (PPP) projects, Trend reports citing IFC.
Earlier this month, the Emirate-based Masdar renewable energy company, was declared the winner of the competition for the country's first 100MW PPP project for solar energy, within the framework of which a highly competitive tariff of 2.7 cents per kilowatt-hour was obtained.
In the coming months, a PPP-based tender will be launched for two more projects in the field of solar energy with a capacity of up to 200MW each in Samarkand and Jizzakh regions, followed by an additional round for a capacity of 500 MW. A total of about $1 billion in private investment is expected.
Thus, another step will be taken towards the diversification of energy sources and the achievement of the goal of generating up to 5GW of solar energy by 2030.
“The first PPP project on solar energy has set a high benchmark for solar energy prices in our country,” said Shukhrat Vafayev, Deputy Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade, Deputy World Bank Group Manager for Uzbekistan. “We are confident that with the support of IFC's advisory services, we will be able to repeat this success and again attract first-class private players to the development and financing of such projects.”
As a transactional adviser, IFC helped the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade, as well as the Ministry of Energy prepare and conduct a tender for the first PPP project, which attracted 11 qualified bidders and 5 competitive bids. High investor interest has been a turning point in a country where the energy sector has traditionally been controlled by the state, read the message.
The World Bank is also working with the government of Uzbekistan on key policy issues in the energy sector, such as tariff reform, renewable energy development and investment planning.
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