Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Energy on 28 May began drafting a national Low-Carbon Energy Strategy with assistance from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and international consulting company Corporate Solutions.
The government is committed to improving energy efficiency and increasing the share of renewables in the energy balance in line with nationally determined contributions under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Ministry believes the current energy production system in Uzbekistan could benefit from modernisation and exposure to the latest low carbon technologies.
Corporate Solutions is modelling Uzbekistan’s energy system and Uzbekistan is also looking at experiences of Germany, Japan and Spain to learn from their respective low-carbon transitions.
Uzbekistan plans to develop alternative energy sources, including solar, hydro and wind, to produce electricity with low carbon emissions. Uzbekistan is also building its first nuclear power plant, to provide base-load electricity.
The strategy follows the recent publication of a ten-year plan for electricity provision in Uzbekistan developed with the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank. This aims to deploy up to 30GWe of additional power capacity by 2030, including 5GWe of solar energy, 3.8GWe of hydropower, 2.4GWe of nuclear energy and up to 3GWe of wind energy.
Priority activities outlined include:
- Modernisation and reconstruction of existing power plants
- Construction of new generating assets using energy efficient power production technologies
- Improvement of power metering systems
- Fuel diversification and development of renewable energy sources - especially solar energy and
- Legal reforms to improve tariff polices and to aid transition to a wholesale market.
These measures aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 10% (from 2010 levels) by 2030.
