The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will provide up to US$229.4 million to ACWA Power to develop a 200MW/500MWh solar-plus-storage project in Uzbekistan.
Due to be built in the eastern Tashkent region, the projects are owned by ACWA Power Riverside Solar, a special-purpose company owned by Saudi energy giant ACWA Power. It forms part of Uzbekistan’s professed target of developing 25GW of solar and wind generation capacity by 2030.
The financing will be delivered through an A-loan of up to US$183.5 million and a B-loan of up to US$40.5 million, supported by commercial co-financiers.
Nandita Parshad, managing director of the EBRD’s sustainable infrastructure group, said: “We are proud to partner with ACWA Power and co-financiers on the pioneering Tashkent Solar PV and energy storage project in Uzbekistan, the largest of its kind in Central Asia. The project is core to Uzbekistan’s ambition to install 25GW of renewables by 2030.”
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The EBRD has invested over US$5.1 billion (€4.7 billion) in 162 projects in Uzbekistan alone to date; it has been the leading recipient of EBRD funding in the Central Asia region for the last four years.
ACWA Power signed power purchase agreements (PPAs) in March 2023 with national grid operator JSC Uzbek National Electricity Grids for 1.4GW of solar PV and 1.2GW of energy storage, which the government of Uzbekistan would finance via the Ministry of Investment, Industry and Trade.
Uzbekistan and the wider Central Asia region has received significant foreign investment in its energy sector, particularly from the Middle East and China.
