The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power have signed loans worth US$174m to develop two onshore wind projects located in the Bukhara region of Uzbekistan, totalling 1 GW. The financing comprises loans amounting to $40.5m for the 500 MW Bash wind power plant and $46.5m for the 500 MW Dzhankeldy wind power plant, funded through ADB’s ordinary capital resources. In addition, ADB will administer similar loans from the Leading Asia's Private Infrastructure Fund (LEAP), administered by ADB. The loans will also contribute to the construction of 282.5 km of 500-kV of overhead transmission infrastructure to connect the wind parks to the power grid.
The two power plants will each consist of 79 wind turbines and they are together expected to generate 3,235 GWh/year of power. They are expected to offset the emission of 1.8 MtCO2/year. Earlier in April 2023, the OPEC Fund for International Development also signed loan agreements with ACWA Power (worth US$20m) for the development of the two wind projects.
At the end of 2021, Uzbekistan had only 1 MW of installed wind capacity and 104 MW of solar capacity. However, Uzbekistan targets 8 GW of solar and wind capacity by 2026 and 12 GW by 2030. The country is planning to build at least 5 GW of solar, 3 GW of wind, and 1.9 GW of hydropower capacities by 2030 to cover 25% of the power mix (up from 10% in 2019). Uzbekistan also plans to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.
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