TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, November 7. Uzbekistan plans to involve the private sector in the distribution of electricity in the country, Uzbek Minister of Energy Zhurabek Mirzamakhmudov said, Trend reports.
"Currently, the private sector is already present in the field of electricity generation, and in the future we are already considering attracting foreign and private investors to the distribution network — its modernization, cost reduction, energy efficiency improvement," Mirzamakhmudov said.
The minister also spoke in favor of free pricing on the wholesale electricity market based on supply and demand, as well as the organization of daily electricity sales through an online trading platform in the future.
In addition, the official noted that gas production in the country does not cover the demand, so gas imports from Turkmenistan and Russia were established.
"Despite the fact that Uzbekistan is a mining country, unfortunately, long-term exploited deposits do not cover the growing demand," the minister explained.
Earlier this year, the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Innovation of Uzbekistan developed a program to install 44.8 MW of solar panels with a capacity of 89.6 million kWh of electricity in all state universities of the republic based on the annual energy demand of the country.
Moreover, Uzbekistan plans to attract $7 billion of private investment to create an additional 9 GW of generating capacity. The total volume of necessary investments in the electric power industry is estimated at $52 billion.