Tue 23 August 2022:
Uzbekistan’s President has returned from a trip to Saudi Arabia with $14 billion in promised investments, his office says, Taskent Times reports.
According to the report, Saudi Arabia is preparing to pay $12 billion for chronic energy shortages.
The agreements include a pledge for Saudi firm, ACWA Power, to build a 1.5 GW wind farm in Karakalpakstan.
Uzbekistan’s Energy Ministry says it will be the world’s largest, and will power 1.65 million homes, the report says.
ACWA Power has already begun building two smaller wind farms in the Bukhara region.
Within the 2030 Vision, oil-rich Saudi Arabia has connected its first wind farm to the grid inside the country last year.
The 400-megawatt Dumat Al-Jandal wind farm – developed by EDF Renewables and Masdar – is made up of 99 wind turbines, the report said.
With rising summer temperatures and drought putting strain on Central Asia’s hydropower networks, Uzbekistan has begun to experience electricity shortages in the hottest months in addition to the traditional blackout season of winter.
And plans for a Russian-built nuclear power plant look like no sure thing with Moscow under international sanctions. If the Saudis make good on their promises, analyst Kamoliddin Rabbimov suggested on his Facebook page, Uzbekistan may no longer need the Russian plant, which appears to be behind schedule.
ACWA also agreed to research the future of green hydrogen in Uzbekistan.
Saudi media also reported that the two sides had inked an agreement to increase Uzbek labor migration to the kingdom. Millions of Uzbeks currently work in Russia.
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