On Wednesday, May 24, the preliminary winner of the tender for construction and operation of a 300 MW solar photovoltaic plant in Guzar district of Kashkadarya region was announced, the press service of the Ministry of Energy reported.
The project is being implemented with the support of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) under the “Project Development and Consultancy Services Programme for the Construction of a Solar Photovoltaic Station with a Total Capacity of 300 MW” (Phase II).
Two international companies submitted proposals for the project:
- Emirati Masdar offered a price of 3 cents per 1 kWh of electricity produced by the solar power plant and $6.33 per 1 MW⋅h of battery system availability.
- Saudi Acwa Power offered 3.0518 cents per 1 kWh of electricity generated by the solar power plant and $24.425 per 1 MW⋅h of battery system availability.
Masdar has been declared the preliminary successful bidder, while Acwa Rower is the reserve bidder.
The tender documents are expected to be reviewed and approved by a tender committee with ADB consultants in the coming days.
The tender was conducted by the Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Investment, Industry and Trade, National Electric Networks of Uzbekistan, Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Committee for Development of Competition and Protection of Consumer Rights.
The project includes the construction of a 300 MW solar photovoltaic plant in Guzar district and an energy storage system (accumulator), providing a capacity of 75 MW for an hour.
The winning investor will design, finance and operate the solar photovoltaic plant for 25 years.
Recall that Masdar intends to start in 2023 the construction of three photovoltaic power plants in Uzbekistan — 220 MW Nur Jizzakh in Jizzakh region, 220 MW Nur Samarkand in Samarkand region and 457 MW Nur Sherabad in Surkhandarya region, for which the company attracted loans worth almost $400 million.
