The United Arab Emirates’s energy group Masdar has signed an agreement with the Uzbek energy group Uzenergosotish to develop a 300 MW/600 MWh BESS in Navoiy, Uzbekistan (Masdar, 11/11/2025). The Zarafshan BESS is planned to have an initial 300 MW/600 MWh capacity that should be able to store enough energy to power approximately 1.3 million households for two hours. The facility is expected to start operations in the third quarter of 2028. It is expected to have a second phase of 300 MW/600 MWh to extend its capacity in alignment to Uzbekistan’s national battery storage program and Masdar’s commitment to develop over 2 GW of renewable energy capacity in the country.
Uzbekistan targets to install 20 GW of renewable capacity by 2030 and to develop up to 575 MW / 1.15 GWh of BESS capacity across the country under a December 2023 agreement with Masdar.