The UAE company Masdar will invest up to US$ 100 million for the first photovoltaic plant project with 100 MW capacity in the Navoi province of Uzbekistan, the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade (MIFT) said.
In early October, Masdar was awarded the project under public-private partnership terms. The bid, announced in February, was organized by the International Finance Corporation (IFC, part of the World Bank Group) with 40 foreign bidders participating.
Today was held the investment agreement signing ceremony with Masdar, which will take on design, financing, construction and operation of a power plant for 25 years.
In May 2018, the government of Uzbekistan signed the Advisory Services Agreement with IFC to attract private investors to finance, design, build and operate solar power plants in Uzbekistan worth total of US$ 1 billion. The pilot project of the agreement is the PV plant in Navoi province.
According to MIFT, in the coming months other bids will be launched under the PPP terms for two more solar stations projects with a capacity of up to 200 MW each in Samarkand and Jizzakh provinces. Then, an additional round of 500 MW capacity will follow, the ministry added.