Acwa Power secures USD 80 mn loan for solar project in Uzbekistan

KSA’s Acwa Power has secured an equity bridge loan worth USD 80 mn from the Bank of China to finance one of its solar and energy storage projects in Uzbekistan, according to a press release. The loan, split evenly between CNY and USD, and marks the first cooperation between Acwa and the bank.

Where’s the money going? The funds will go towards financing Acwa’s 200 MW solar project and accompanying 500 MWh battery energy storage (BESS) facility in Tashkent.

Is this the first phase of a larger project? Acwa Power signed three power purchase agreements totaling USD 2.5 bn with the National Electric Grid of Uzbekistan and the country’s Investment, Industry, and Trade Ministry for 1.4 GW worth of solar projects and three battery energy storage (BESS) units totaling a capacity of 1.5 GWh in March 2023 including a 400 MW solar plant with an accompanying 500 MWh BESS facility located in Tashkent. The firm later inked an engineering, procurement, and construction agreement with the Energy China Group Corporation company in June.

The timeline: Acwa’s contract agreement will last 25 years and the plants are expected to come online in 3Q 2025 and 3Q 2026, although it is unclear which projects will launch in which year.

Acwa’s also interested in Uzbek wind: The company inked a SAR 985 mn PPA with NEGU for the development of the 200 MW Nukus 2 wind farm along with an accompanying battery energy storage system (BESS) facility earlier this month. A hybrid 800 MW renewable energy and integrated green hydrogen project is also in the pipeline.