Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Fifteen investors will fight to win a tender for projects to build two solar photovoltaic stations with a capacity of 200 MW each in Samarkand and Jizzakh regions. This was reported by the press service of the Ministry of Energy of Uzbekistan.

Based on the results of consideration of proposals (price) from the tenderers, the winning investors for these two Projects will be determined, who will design, develop, finance, build and operate two solar photovoltaic plants as independent electricity producers.

The projects are included in the energy strategy of the Government of Uzbekistan to increase the share of solar energy production to 5 GW in the next 10 years.

As part of these reforms, the Government has engaged the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) as lead transaction consultant to provide technical assistance in structuring and tendering for 1,000 MW solar PV projects.

We add that the determination of 15 investors was preceded by a number of stages.

On 20 February 2020, the tender stage started, during which potential investors submitted an "expression of interest" (EOI) in accordance with the established requirements (the form could be found on the websites of the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade and the Agency for the Development of Public-Private partnership under the Ministry of Finance). As a result, 84 applications were received, which were publicly announced on March 24 of this year.

On 29 June, the stage of the tender “Request for qualification” was launched. As a result, on 3 December, a “short list” of 15 international companies was presented, which were subsequently invited to the “Request for Proposals” to submit competitive (price) proposals.

In April 2021, the winner is expected to be announced based on the results of the RFQ and the best price offer. After the signing of the project agreements and reaching financial closure, construction of the Project will begin, which is expected in 2022.