Uzbek company to luanch photovoltaic power plants
By Sara Rajabova
An Uzbek company plans to develop power plants producing solar energy in the country by 2017.
Uzbekistan’s joint-stock electro-technical company, Uzeltechsanoat plans to organize the production of photovoltaic power plants with a capacity of up to 500 KW in the Navoi free industrial and economic zone, Review.uz reported.
The project is envisaged to attract direct foreign investments.
Akrom Mirzabayev, general director of Tashkent-based photovoltaic equipment producer Mir Solarsaid solar energy generation has good prospects in Uzbekistan, although it requires large capital investments and large areas for placing solar panels.
He added that the state provides legislative support for domestic photovoltaic producers. Mir Solar, for example, was included in the state production localization program in 2009, and has been exempted from all taxes and customs duties for seven years.
"The strategy of photovoltaic equipment production at the company meets the interests of the state," Mirzabayev said. The company has minimized the use of imported components and developed its own technology for the production of photovoltaic equipment. The level of production localization at the company (that is, the use of domestically produced components) stands at 62.5 percent.
The state support has helped the Uzbek company to successfully compete with leading Chinese photovoltaic equipment producers.
However, according to Mirzabayev, for further development Uzbek photovoltaic producers need more support from the state, including provision of low-interest loans for the purchase of renewable energy equipment for at least 15 years, introduction of leasing schemes, and introduction of tariffs for “green” energy.
Uzbekistan’s first-ever small solar power plant with a capacity of 130 KW has been launched in a test mode in the Pap district of the country’s Namangan province in late 2014.
The power plant has been constructed in cooperation with South Korean partners and equipped with Korean equipment. The commissioning of the plant will help improve the electricity supplies to the area, as well as test Korean solar modules that would be used in other, large-scale solar energy projects in Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan's potential of renewable energy sources amounts to about 51 billion tons of oil equivalent. The country's hydro-power potential represents 9.2 million tons of oil equivalents, while the potential of solar energy with 300 sunny days per year represents 50.973 billion tons, wind potential 2.2 million tons and geothermal waters 0.2 million tons of oil equivalents.
In early 2013, Uzbekistan developed a set of measures for the development of alternative sources of energy. The country established the International Institute for Solar Energy jointly with ADB in September 2013.
The institute is aimed to implement high-tech developments in the field of industrial application of solar energy, to conduct applied researches, related to the use of solar energy in various sectors of economy and to coordinate the development of documentation for major projects in the field of solar energy.
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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on
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