EU lender the European Investment Bank (EIB) will provide half the finance package for a 100 MW, €87.4 million solar plant planned near Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
A joint press release issued today by the three finance bodies behind the project stated the EIB will provide a loan of €43.7 million for the facility, with loans of €21.8 million each being supplied by London-based international development entity the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and by the Proparco, private-sector arm of French development financier Agence Française de Développement. Rounding up of the exact figures results in a total loan package of €87.4 million.
The solar field is being described as one of the first private-sector renewable energy facilities in Uzbekistan thanks to the involvement of French energy company Total as its developer, via the Tutly Solar LLC unit of its Total Eren clean energy operation.
Total will sell the energy generated by the field to project operator National Electric Networks of Uzbekistan under a 25-year power purchase agreement.
pv magazine has asked the EBRD when the solar project is expected to come online.
The government of Uzbekistan is aiming for 8 GW of solar and wind power generation capacity this decade. In its latest set of figures, the International Renewable Energy Agency estimated the nation had 8.33 MW of solar and wind capacity at the end of 2020.
