Asian development bank to finance Uzbek solar plant

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will lend $90 million to Uzbekistan in September to build a solar power plant, a spokesman for the countrys state energy company Uzbekenergo said on Friday. The 100 megawatt solar photovoltaic plant in Uzbekistans Samarkand Region is expected to deliver up to 190 million kilowatt hours of solar power a year, Russian Ria-Novosti news agency reported today. "A project for construction of the plant has been drafted and all the documents will be presented by late July to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) which will consider the project in August-September," the spokesman said. The overall cost of the project, to be partly financed by the Uzbek side, is estimated at some $240 million. Russian oil major LUKoil had also earlier presented proposals for building a solar plant in Uzbekistan, in a joint program with the ADB and the Uzbekistan government. Uzbekistan’s solar energy potential is estimated at 50.9 billion tons of oil equivalent or 99.7 % of all renewable energy sources surveyed in the republic. The country is currently heavily reliant on coal and gas, according to its energy ministry.