Uzbekistan Legal Alert – December 2021
The Ministry of Energy of Uzbekistan announced the launch of the Request for Qualifications for the Guzar Solar PPP Project with a capacity of up to 300MWac.
The Project is the second project under the 1GW Solar Program being developed by the Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan with the support of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as part of the GOU's large-scale renewable energy strategy to deploy until 2030 up to 8GW of environment-friendly renewable energy generation.
A site situated in the Guzar district of Kashkadarya region has been selected for the construction of a photovoltaic station with a capacity of up to 300MWac and transmission line to the nearby Guzar 220kV substation. The Project shall be structured in accordance with international best practices and shall be developed based on precedents from the Sherabad Solar Project, the first project tendered under the Program.
The Project is being tendered internationally under the Public-Private Partnership model, with the aim to attract and select a qualified private developer-investor for the Project. Applications can be passed till 30 March 2022, 18:00 Tashkent time.
II. TEASER FOR NEW WIND PROJECT IN UZBEKISTAN
The Ministry of Energy of Uzbekistan announced the project teaser for a 200 MW wind project and associated evacuation infrastructure in the Beruniy and Qorao'zak districts, Republic of Karakalpakstan ("the Project") for which an investor-developer will be selected via an international competitive tender in order to further develop wind energy in Uzbekistan.
The full Project teaser is available via: https://minenergy.uz/en/news/view/1694
III. DEVELOPMENT OF HYDROPOWER IN UZBEKISTAN
On December 12th the President of Uzbekistan approved the hydropower development program in order to expand the coverage of existing hydropower potential in production of electricity, as well as to create the most favorable conditions for attracting private investment.
The document defines the main directions of hydropower development and rational use of the hydropower potential:
The program of additional measures for the further development of hydropower for 2021-2030 includes:
Starting from January 1st, 2022, the relevant state body must purchase electric energy, including VAT, from: