The European Investment Bank has approved an $83.6 million loan for Uzbekistan's program to develop photovoltaic plants. Together with the Asian Development Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the EIB will provide a loan total worth of $396.4 million to finance the construction and commissioning of three solar PV plants with a total capacity of almost 900 MW.
The project is being implemented by Masdar (UAE), which plans to build 220 MW Nur Jizzakh photovoltaic plant in Jizzakh region, 220 MW Nur Samarkand in the Samarkand province and 457 MW Nur Sherabad in the Surkhandarya province.
The funds will also be used to connect the power plants to the public grid, which is expected to support Uzbekistan's plan to produce 7 GW of solar and 5 GW of wind energy by 2030. The project will also help reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions of more than one million tons of CO2 equivalent.
Construction is expected to begin this year, with new photovoltaic plants scheduled to be launched in 2024.
