JSC National Grid of Uzbekistan has launched a tender for the construction of several PV plants with a combined capacity of 500 MW.
The solar plants will be built at unspecified locations in Namangan, Bukhara and Khorezm regions by independent power producers on a build–own–operate–transfer (BOOT) basis. Project proposals for the Bukhara site may also include the deployment of some storage capacity.
Interested developers will have time until November 29 to submit their pre-qualification applications.
The procurement exercise is the first of two solar tenders totaling 900 MW that Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Energy announced in mid-August. The second tender, which hasn’t been launched yet, is for 400 MW of solar capacity across the Kashkadarya and Fergana regions.
Uzbekistan aims to deploy 5 GW of solar by 2030. According to the latest statistics released by the International Renewable Energy Agency, the country had just 4 MW of installed solar power at the end of 2020. Last year, no new PV additions were registered in the country.