ACWA to Invest $120 Million in Uzbekistan Renewables Afresh

Saudi Arabia’s ace renewable energy developer ACWA Power has inked two key agreements at the EBRD 2023 Annual Meeting and Business Forum in Samarkand to advance Uzbekistan’s target to decarbonise 35% of its energy sector by 2030.

In the first set of agreements with the chemicals company, Uzkimyosanoat of Uzbekistan, ACWA Power will decarbonise the sector through innovative green hydrogen projects. Construction will be executed in two phases achieving substantial reductions in natural gas consumption.

The second set of agreements involves the signing of financing documents for Karatau Wind Farm, formerly referred to as the Nukus Wind Project, with a total investment value of $120 million. The National Electric Grid of Uzbekistan (NEGU) will serve as the exclusive buyer of electricity generated by the project for 25 years.

The Karatau Wind Project, with a capacity of 100 MW, is expected to achieve commercial operation in February 2025, said ACWA Power.

Project funding has been secured through Deutsche Investitions (DEG), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and Proparco. The financing agreements were signed by representatives of DEG, EBRD, Proparco, and Mohammad Abunayyan, Chairman, ACWA Power.

Marco Arcelli, CEO of ACWA Power, said, “The financial close of the Karatau Wind Project with the support of EBRD, DEG, Proparco and the Ministries of Energy and Investment, Industry & Trade of Uzbekistan is a key milestone in the installation of about 5,000 MW of capacity in the country by ACWA Power, which will reduce CO2 emissions by over 6 million tonnes by 2030.”

A Novel Green Hydrogen Path in Central Asia

The green hydrogen agreement with Uzkimyosanoat is the first project of its kind in Central Asia. The initial phase, valued around $100 million, will be located in Tashkent region and aims to produce 3,000 tonnes per year of green hydrogen. This is meant for the Uzbek chemicals industry to save up to 20.4 million cubic meters of natural gas annually. ACWA Power said that the second phase is bigger with an investment of $4 billion, which will include scaling up green hydrogen production to 120,000 tonnes per year.

The project will also integrate world-class renewable energy technology with a capacity exceeding 2.6 GW.

ACWA Power signed three separate PPAs last March with a total commitment of $7.5 billion worth of investments for renewable energy projects. Subsequently, in April, the firm secured $174 million worth of loans from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to develop the Bash and Dzhankeldy wind energy plants in the Bukhara region of Uzbekistan.