The first meeting of energy ministers was held as part of the sixth consultative meeting of the leaders of the Central Asian nations. At the meeting in Astana, Uzbekistan announced that it could begin exporting excess electricity to Europe by 2030. According to the Minister of Energy of Uzbekistan, Jorabek Mirzamahmudov, if the tripartite project of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan on the transmission of the cable along the bottom of the Caspian Sea is successfully implemented, Uzbekistan will be able to transfer excess electricity.
“By the end of this year, we will increase the total energy capacity obtained from renewable energy sources to the level of more than 4 GW. By 2030, this indicator will exceed 20 GW, of which 2–5 GW of energy will be exported to Europe,” the minister said.
According to Mirzamahmudov, the exact volume of exports will depend on the electricity transmission system’s capacity and European buyers’ needs. Mirzamahmudov also stated that Uzbekistan’s electricity would pass through Kazakhstan through the unified energy system of Central Asia, through the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan, from there to Georgia, and then through the Black Sea to Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria.
Following Uzbekistan’s development strategy, the total generation capacity will be increased by 2.4 times (44.9 GW) by 2030. At the same time, the share of renewable energy sources will be increased to 40%. For this purpose, solar and wind energy production projects with a total capacity of 18.8 GW (8.6 GW solar, 10.2 GW wind) will be implemented.
