On March 25th, Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev pressed a symbolic button to launch the construction of new power plants in the country’s Namangan region.
Today, the Namangan region has 913 megawatts of generating capacity. Over the past three years, electricity consumption in the region has increased by 24 percent and to meet the ever-growing demand, three projects have been launched with a total capacity of 1,228 megawatts at a cost of $1.1 billion. The projects comprise a cascade of hydroelectric power plants and two solar power plants.
The Uzbekhydroenergo joint stock company will invest $434 million in a cascade of 6 hydroelectric power stations. With a total capacity of 228 megawatts, the plants will generate 1 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, saving 310 million cubic meters of gas and providing electricity to 430 thousand households. The German company Hyper Partners GmbH will build a solar power plant with a capacity of 500 megawatts. The cost of the project is $350 million and the annual capacity, 1.095 billion kilowatt-hours. Another solar power plant will be built in cooperation with Tepelen Group Holding Limited from the United Arab Emirates. Its cost will also be $350 million and its capacity, 500 megawatts.
The connection of the above power plants to the power grid is scheduled for completion by the end of this year. Combined, the projects will provide the Namangan region with an annual generating capacity of 2141 megawatts and 7.8 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity. Since this is more than enough to cover the region’s need for 5.5 billion kilowatt-hours, any excess electricity will be sent to neighbouring Andijan and Fergana.
