The Asian Development Bank will loan the Saudi energy company ACWA Power $174 million to help build two wind power projects in Uzbekistan.
According to a statement from the bank, $40.5 million would go towards a facility in Bash and $46.5 million will be set aside for a development in Dzhankeldy. Both projects will be funded by regular capital resources from ADB.
A total of 3,235 gigawatt-hours of electricity will be produced by each power plant's 79 wind turbines, which will also eliminate the equivalent of about 2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.
The largest utility-scale wind power project in Central West Asia will be created by Bash and Dzhankeldy.
“Uzbekistan is one of the fastest-growing economies in Central Asia, and with it comes a growing demand for energy,” said Suzanna Gaboury, director general for Private Sector Operations at ADB.
“Bash and Dzhankeldy are landmark greenfield wind power projects which have a significant demonstrative impact of private sector participation across the region’s energy sector,” she added.
In order to link to the electrical grid, 282.5 kilometres of 500 kV, single-circuit overhead transmission lines will be built using the loans.
Three solar photovoltaic projects costing $2.5 billion will be developed by the National Electric Grid of Uzbekistan in the country's Tashkent, Bukhara, and Samarkand districts by ACWA Power, which is controlled by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund.
Three battery energy storage systems with a combined capacity of 1,500 megawatts are also included in the contracts.
Uzbekistan was reported by ACWA Power to be the biggest market for its investments outside of Saudi Arabia in August 2022.
This occurred as the business finalised three agreements with the Central Asian nation to build a 1.5GW power plant with $2.4 billion in investments.