Acwa Power’s Tashkent solar farm is coming along: Saudi renewables giant Acwa Power signed an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) agreement with the Energy China Group Corporation company for its 400 MW solar energy project in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, according to a statement. The financial agreements and an expected timeline for the project were not disclosed.

One step forward: This recent agreement builds on a prior power purchase agreement (PPA) Acwa signed with the National Electric Grid of Uzbekistan and the country’s Investment, Industry, and Trade Ministry back in March to deploy the project along with an accompanying 500 MWh BESS facility.

There’s more coming: The company has signed three power purchase agreements — including the Tashkent solar farm — totaling USD 2.5 bn with Uzbekistan for 1.4 GW worth of solar projects and three battery energy storage (BESS) units totalling a capacity of 1.5 GWh in the country. The projects will include two solar plants in Samarkand with a total production capacity of 1 GW with a battery storage capacity of 500 MWh from a single BESS facility. A separate BESS facility will be established in Uzbeikstan’s Bukhara which will have a storage capacity amounting to 500 MWh, and will include overhead transmission lines to distribute power onto the national grid.

Acwa has been investing heavily in Uzbekistan: The company has already poured in a total of USD 5 bn to fund five projects it owns and operates in the country — including onshore wind energy plants. Acwa plans to invest a total of USD 10 bn in Uzbekistan’s renewables projects over the next five years, and signed an agreement in May to establish a USD 100 mn green hydrogen plant in Tashkent which will have a 3k ton annual capacity once operational in June 2024. The company also inked financing agreements that same month worth USD 120 mn for the 100 MW Karatau wind farm — formerly known as Nukus Wind IPP, which will become operational in February 2025.

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