The Ministry of Energy, Uzbekistan has shortlisted 11 bidders under the final phase of a tender for a 200 MW solar park. The project is set to be developed at Sherabad in the Surkhandarya region. The project site is 46km west of the Surkhan substation which is the main hub for electricity supply within Surkhandarya.
The shortlisted bidders from the world over include Jinko Power (China), Masdar (UAE), ACWA Power (Saudi Arabia), Marubeni (Japan), NTPC (India), ReNew Power (India), Risen (China), Kepco (South Korea), Scatec (Norway), Total Eren (France), and TBEA Xinjiang Sunoasis (China).
The request for expressions of interest for setting up the solar park was issued in February 2020. Further in March 2020, a list of 54 companies eligible to participate was posted. As per the tender, the project will include construction of a 220 kV substation and a 52km transmission line. According to the Uzbekistan government, these are vital for the region which depends on electricity imports.
The project is part of a solar programme developed by the government of Uzbekistan with the support of the Asian Development Bank. Uzbekistan is also part of the World Bank Group’s Scaling Solar programme. The Government of Uzbekistan is looking to develop up to 1 GW of solar power and signed a mandate with IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, for a 100 MW project in the Navoi region in southwestern Uzbekistan in May 2018. The tender for this project resulted in competitive prices of $0.27 per kWh, as announced in October 2019.