EBRD's renewable energy project in Central Asia is largest to date

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) arranged two syndicated loans collectively worth $520 million to help construct and put into operation two wind power plants in Uzbekistan, Zsuzsanna Hargitai, EBRD Managing Director for Central Asia, told Trend.

The project with the total installed capacity of 1 GW will be carried out in the country's Bukhara region, she said.

According to the managing director, this financing is the EBRD's largest renewable energy project to date across all countries, where the Bank invests.

"A financing package of $74 million, organized by the Bank, will help develop, construct and put into operation a 500 MW greenfield wind power plant in the Navoi region of Uzbekistan. This was the first project in Central Asia to use the IdentiFlight [bird detection system] able to detect and monitor species at risk of collision and trigger an automatic curtailment of selected turbines," she added.

Moreover, as Hargitai noted, EBRD together with the Ministry of Energy of Uzbekistan has developed low-carbon development pathway for the electricity sector of Uzbekistan, which aims to decarbonize the sector by 2050.

Meanwhile, the current loan portfolio of the EBRD projects in Uzbekistan is estimated at 2.2 billion euros. Bank's loan portfolio is calculated for the implementation of 69 projects. The major part of the investment portfolio (72 percent or 1.6 billion euros) focuses on sustainable infrastructure, 19 percent (428 million euros) - on financial institutions, and 9 percent (199 million euros) - on industry, commerce, and agribusiness.