TASHKENT

An consortium of companies from France, Qatar and Japan has won an international tender to build a combined cycle gas turbine power plant (CCGT) with a capacity of up to 1600 megawatts in the Syrdarya region of Uzbekistan.

The decision to award the consortium the project was based on its offer of $33.67564 per megawatt-hour (MWh), the lowest electricity cost after accounting for tariffs and projected efficiency compared with other competing bids, Uzbekistan’s Energy Ministry said.

Électricité de France (EDF), Qatar’s Nebras Power Q.S.C. (Nebras) and Japan’s Sojitz Corporation (Sojitz) will form a new corporation to enter a 25-year power purchase agreement with Uzbekistan’s National Electric Grid to design, finance, build, operate and maintain the CCGT plant, which is expected to be commissioned by mid-2025.

According to Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade (MIFT), the volume of attracted investments is estimated at $1.2 billion.

The thermal power plant is expected to create major efficiency gains necessary to cope with the rising electricity demand in the most populous country in Central Asia.

“The implementation of the project will help Uzbekistan to achieve its goals to increase the volume of electricity, provide 1.5 million households with additional electricity, and will also create up to 1,000 new jobs during the construction period and 50 permanent jobs during the operation,” the MIFT press service said.

The Energy Ministry said the successful completion of this international tender allowed the country “to take another significant step in increasing the stability of energy supply”.

“It is also a sign that Uzbekistan is a place where international capital can be employed with the safety of investment and great growth prospects,” Energy Minister Alisher Sultanov said.

Besides doubling efficiency compared to plants of the existing fleet, the Syrdarya CCGT plant will contribute to decreasing the CO2 intensity of Uzbekistan’s gas usage. The project is a part of the “Generation Masterplan of the Republic of Uzbekistan” aimed at modernising outdated energy infrastructure.

The International Finance Corporation, part of the World Bank Group, in partnership with the Global Infrastructure Facility, advised Uzbekistan in structuring and implementing the competitive tender.

In August, Turkey’s Cengiz Energy company started building a thermal power plant with a capacity of 240 megawatts using modern combined-cycle plants (CCGT) in one of Uzbekistan’s central regions. The cost of the project is estimated at $150 million.

The thermal power plant, which will use natural gas to generate electricity, will include two gas turbines manufactured by the U.S. General Electric and one steam turbine manufactured by Germany’s Siemens.

Uzbekistan, Central Asia’s largest country by population, has been experiencing power shortages on cold winter days for many years and energy officials put the blame on huge energy losses due to ageing infrastructure and fast-growing demand both by businesses and consumers.

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has prioritised reforming the country’s energy system since coming to power in 2016 by opening up it to foreign investors offering public-private partnerships in the power sector.

Over the past nine months, Uzbekistan has signed 10 contracts for the construction of thermal, solar and wind power plants with a total capacity of 4,341 megawatts, about a third of the current capacity of power plants in the country.