Uzbekistan Breaks Ground on 1.5-GW CCGT

Uzbekistan has broken ground on a 1.5-GW combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant in its eastern Sirdarya region, the country's energy ministry reported on January 25.

Saudi Arabia's Acwa Power is building the plant along with 1 GW of wind power capacity in the Bukhara and Navoi regions. The gas station will cover 15% of Uzbek power demand with an efficiency rate of over 60%, using only about half as much gas as older plants to generate the same amount of electricity. The project's cost is $1.2bn.

Acwa also signed power purchase and investment agreements with Uzbekistan for the wind projects, and entered into a strategic pact with Uzbekistan's energy ministry and US-based Air Products on co-operation in developing renewables and hydrogen.

Central Asia's most populous nation is looking to expand its electricity generation to spur economic growth and meet a predicted 110bn kWh in annual demand by 2030. It is also developing more domestic uses for its gas supplies, as an alternative to low-value sales to China and Russia.

Uzbek gas exports slumped in 2020 as China curtailed supply in response to a slowdown in demand because of the coronavirus pandemic. Revenues were about a fifth of the year before's level, the state statistics committee reported January 22, at $478mn.