Crossroads Asia | Economy | Central Asia
Amidst the power and electrical energy disaster, Tashkent’s pursuit of renewables is as a lot about addressing the specter of local weather change as it’s about shoring up its power safety.
Uzbekistan isn’t the primary nation that involves thoughts when speaking about renewable power. But the gas-dependent nation with in depth fossil gasoline reserves and a decaying community of Soviet-era transmission infrastructure is making strides towards unlocking its potential for wind and solar energy and outpacing its neighbors within the course of.
Amidst the power and electrical energy disaster, the pursuit of renewables is as a lot about addressing the specter of local weather change as it’s about shoring up its power safety. Uzbekistan is showing to take steps away from Russian power imports and uncertainties in buying and selling electrical energy regionally and transferring towards new companions, notably within the Middle East and China.
While the nation leads its Central Asian counterparts in planning new renewables, Uzbekistan nonetheless faces numerous hurdles in its power transition away from fossil fuels in pursuit of power safety.
Uzbekistan has a goal of attaining greater than 30 p.c renewable power electrical energy capability (round 15 gigawatts) by 2030. Currently the nation has solely two large-scale working photo voltaic farms, every 100 megawatts. The nation is pursuing a complete of 8.8 GW of potential wind and huge utility-scale solar energy through initiatives which have both been introduced or are within the pre-construction or development phases.
Uzbekistan’s potential portfolio contains 5.6 GW of utility-scale photo voltaic and three.1 GW of wind energy at numerous phases of improvement. Three-quarters of potential wind initiatives and practically half (48 p.c) of potential utility-scale photo voltaic initiatives are but to succeed in pre-construction or development phases, nonetheless, suggesting completion of those initiatives might be a great distance off.
Nevertheless, the majority of the nation’s potential capability, 58 p.c (5.1 GW), is scheduled to be linked to the grid by 2025. This determine doesn’t rely 1.4 GW of capability that has been shelved or different nascent initiatives which have but to succeed in a complicated stage of improvement.
Two key actors in Uzbekistan’s renewable power improvement have emerged from the Middle East, with Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power and the Emirates’ Masdar planning 3.1 GW and three.2 GW of potential wind and utility-scale photo voltaic, respectively. These two firms account for practically three-quarters (73 p.c) of all potential capability in Uzbekistan.
More broadly, the 2 firms are additionally lively in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, with Masdar additionally growing renewables in Tajikistan, solidifying their place because the predominant gamers within the Central Asian power sector, and doubtlessly decreasing Russian affect within the course of. China’s Gezhouba Group and PowerChina are main potential photo voltaic initiatives.
While progress on renewables is commendable, Uzbekistan remains to be closely investing within the improvement of oil and gasoline and stays depending on fossil gasoline to generate 85 p.c of its electrical energy. In addition to boundaries to renewable power improvement, issues stay in regards to the potential dangers of renewable power initiatives for native communities and wildlife, together with susceptible and endangered species. Uzbekistan additionally lacks a plan to part out fossil fuels, weakening the nation’s street to carbon neutrality by 2050.
At the identical time, ACWA Power can also be planning to make use of at the least 2.6 GW of its wind and photo voltaic farms solely for inexperienced hydrogen manufacturing, nonetheless a largely unproven expertise. The hydrogen would ostensibly be used domestically to decarbonize Uzbekistan’s chemical business, which is extra sustainable than constructing a 40 GW wind and photo voltaic advanced for hydrogen export as Kazakhstan at present plans to do. The dangers related to inexperienced hydrogen manufacturing could undermine each power safety and a simply and equitable decarbonization.
Facing the formidable job to realize power safety and decarbonization, Uzbekistan must steadiness the necessity for a safe power provide with different priorities reminiscent of reliability, affordability, and fairness.
Source web site: thediplomat.com
