On October 28, MPs at a meeting of the Legislative Chamber heard the Minister of Energy's response to a parliamentary inquiry regarding the development of renewables, the press service of the lower house said.

Reportedly, a number of foreign companies are planning to build plants in Uzbekistan for the production of components for wind turbines. A solar panel manufacturing plant with a capacity of up to 500 MW is already operating in the Navoi province, and the production of inverters and metal structures has been launched in Jizzakh province.

"Thanks to production of components by local enterprises, the cost of production has been reduced from 20 to 12 cents. Wind turbine blades and towers for wind power plants projects in Jizzakh province and in Karakalpakstan is also due," the minister's response stated.

In Uzbekistan, solar panels with a total capacity of 1,857 MW and solar collectors with a volume of 4.8 million liters have been installed, which has saved 2.21 billion kWh of power and 669.7 million cubic meters of gas, and prevented the emission of 875,000 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

The country has seven enterprises manufacturing solar panels with a total capacity of 770 MW and five domestic manufacturers of solar water heaters.

According to plans, by 2030, the total capacity of PV plants should reach 9.4 GW.

Furthermore, solar panels have been installed in 38 higher education institutions, with a capacity of 6.2 MW. This has saved 3.5 million kWh of power and 100 million cubic meters of gas.

According to the data, 32,117 households received payments totaling 133.8 billion soums for the power they produced. The Ministry of Energy predicts that by 2050, the country could accumulate up to 40 tons of waste from solar panels. A national recycling system is planned for the disposal of small panels installed by individuals and businesses.

The response noted that amendments to legislation were being prepared to facilitate this, including the creation of specialized landfills and tax incentives for recyclers.

The Ministry of Energy previously reported that Uzbekistan's solar and wind power plants had produced 9 billion kWh of power year-to-date, with ratio of renewables in total generation reaching 23%.

It should be noted that the Chinese Sino-Wind Energy planned to set up a wind turbine blades production unit in Navoi province. The project was estimated at $50 million.