Future Energy Company of Abu Dhabi (Masdar) announced it has reached financial close of a 300 MW solar energy storage project and 75 MWh battery energy storage project Uzbekistan.
Masdar will design, build and operate the Guzar solar-plus-storage project, located in the southern Kashkadarya region, under a public-private partnership agreement with JSC National Electric Grid of Uzbekistan. Once operational, the project is expected to increase the country’s electricity production capacity by 634 GWh annually.
The developer has raised more than US$225 million (US$193.6 million) for the project, via US$195.5 million from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and a $30 million financing package from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
ADB’s financing package includes a $12.5 million loan from the bank, as well as a $12.5 million loan from Leading Asia’s Private Infrastructure Fund 2 and a $5 million loan from the Canadian Climate and Nature Fund for Asia’s private sector, both of which are managed by ADB.
ADB is also providing a partial credit guarantee to Nur Kashkadarya Solar PV Foreign Enterprise LLC, the special purpose vehicle set up for the project and wholly owned by Masdar, of up to $9 million to help mitigate risks associated with the energy supplier’s payment obligations.
The Guzar project is part of Masdar’s plan to deploy 2 GW of renewable energy sources in Uzbekistan. It is the ninth Masdar project that ADB has funded, six of which are in Uzbekistan.
In October, the EBRD announced that this was the case financing two solar-plus-storage projects in central Uzbekistan it is majority owned by Saudi developer ACWA Power with a combined storage capacity of 1 GW of solar and 1.3 GWh.
According to figures from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Uzbekistan’s cumulative solar capacity stood at 2,275 MW at the end of 2024, up from 475 MW at the end of last year. The country aims to deploy 25 GW of solar and wind energy by 2030.
This content is copyrighted and may not be reused. If you would like to collaborate with us and reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
Popular content
