ADB to lend Uzbekistan $200 mln by 2016 for solar power
TASHKENT. Feb 21 (Interfax) - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide Uzbekistan with $200 million in loans between 2012 and 2015 to implement solar power projects, state owned company Uzbekenergo said in a press release.
The loan is envisaged in a memorandum on establishing an international solar energy institute, signed by the government of Uzbekistan and the ADB last week, the release says.
The institute will design specific solar power projects.
The ADB gave Uzbekenergo a grant of $1.5 million in December 2011 for development of a solar power development program in which feasibility studies for six projects should be completed by the end of 2012. Uzbekenergo plans to design a solar power plant in Tashkent region with 50 megawatt capacity and production of 110 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year. The plant will take two years to build and is estimated to cost $250 million. It will be funded with ADB and Uzbek funds.
Vagit Alekperov, the president of Russian oil major Lukoil , said last summer that the company was working with the government of Uzbekistan and the ADB to design a solar power plant. Capacity for the first phase of the plant would be 100 megawatts. The cost and construction term has not been revealed.
Oil and gas account for 97% of Uzbekistan's primary fuel and energy resources, coal accounts for 2.3% and hydro power for 0.7%. The potential for renewable sources of energy is around 51 billion tonnes of oil equivalent, including solar power of around 50.97 billion tonnes of oil equivalent.