TASHKENT (TCA) — The Eco-Energy scientific-innovation center under the State Committee on Nature of Uzbekistan plans to install more than 400 mobile solar electric power stations throughout the country by the end of 2016, the Jahon information agency reports.
The majority of the stations will be installed at remote enterprises of the oil, gas and chemical industries, at educational and medical facilities, farms, mercy homes and boarding houses for the elderly located far from the main power units.
Some 197 power stations with a capacity of 1,200 kW have already been built since the beginning of the year. The operation of only one of them within six hours per day enables to annually generate about 300 thousand kWh of electricity, save more than 27,200 cubic meters of natural gas and reduce more than 51 thousand tons of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.
According to experts, such electric power stations are capable to work not less than 10 hours per day thanks to the specifics of Uzbekistan’s climate, generating more than 4.38 million kWh of electric energy per year.
The overall potential of solar power generation in Uzbekistan exceeds 51 billion tons of oil equivalent. Construction of the first major solar electric power station in Central Asia with a capacity of 100 MW is currently in progress outside Samarkand.
The project is financed by the Asian Development Bank loan of $110 million and $130 million allocated by the Fund for Reconstruction and Development of Uzbekistan. The Government of Uzbekistan allocated another $45 million and state energy company Uzbekenergo allocated $26 million for the project.
