On October 26, the president Shavkat Mirziyoyev got acquainted with the presentation of measures to organize the activities of the energy market regulator.
According to the presidential press service, Uzbekistan’s power sector is being consistently reformed. At the first stage, the sector’s management system was changed. In recent years, 22 power plants have been commissioned, including in those provinces where there was no generation before. For the first time, private capital is being attracted to the electricity production.
“From 1991 to 2016, [the capacity of] 54 billion kWh remained unchanged, it did not grow. In recent years, 22 power plants have been built, which means the production of additional 30 billion kWh of electricity,” the president said. Currently, the country's energy capacity has reached 85 billion kWh. Another 20 GW of capacity is planned to be launched in the coming years. It is planned to create 9 GW of generating capacity through $7 billion of private investment.
To meet the growing needs of the economy and households, it is necessary to increase the volume of electricity production to at least 120 billion kWh. (by 2030). To commission new capacities and completely modernize networks, investments in the amount of $52 billion will be required, the report says.
By the president’s Sep. 28 Measures to carry out the next stage of reform in the energy sector Decree, it is planned to create an energy market with an open competitive environment.
By 2026, it is planned to introduce a free wholesale market, which will be formed on the basis of demand and supply of electricity. While, it is necessary to form a regulatory framework, create a market infrastructure, digitalize the energy system down to the grassroots level, and introduce an intelligent real-time control system (SCADA) that eliminates the human factor, the head of state emphasized.
“In many countries, these reforms took an average of 15 years. In our country, it is planned to carry out this process in three stages and complete it by 2030,” he said.
The Agency for Development and Regulation of the Energy Market was created by presidential decree, which is entrusted with the functions of an energy regulator. At the same time, the body will be subordinate to the Cabinet of Ministers, and not to the parliament, as was previously proposed.
At the presentation, the Energy Minister Zhurabek Mirzamakhmudov reported on the timing of the implementation of the measures provided for by the decree and the planned work in the field.
The head of state instructed to develop a concept for power supply to the country. It is specifically stated that the main condition for the transition to a free energy market is the creation in the country of sufficient generating capacity to fully satisfy the demand for electricity.
The task has also been set to create a unified electricity trading platform, test and launch it by the end of 2024.
Shavkat Mirziyoyev emphasized that in the process of liberalizing the energy market, it is necessary to strictly comply with the requirement to sell electricity to the population at a single price in all provinces of the republic until 2035, as well as the principle of social protection when setting prices.
