The government of Uzbekistan has issued a request for expressions of interest to develop a 200 MW solar park in Sherabad (Surkhandarya province). Interested parties have until 22 February 2020 to submit a bid. The request for qualifications and the request for proposals are expected to follow in March and in May 2020.
The tender is part of the 1 GW solar plan developed with the support of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which will advise the government on the transaction. In October 2019, the government of Uzbekistan signed a mandate with the International Finance Corporation (IFC, part of the World Bank Group) to develop up to 900 MW of solar power capacity through public-private partnerships (PPPs).
Uzbekistan is seeking to diversify its power mix and aims to develop up to 5 GW of solar power capacity by 2030. In October 2019, the Ministry of Energy of Uzbekistan awarded a 100 MW solar power project to Masdar Clean Energy (United Arab Emirates) through the country's first competitive solar tender help with the support of the World Bank’s Scaling Solar programme.