JSC Uzbekhydroenergo, Uzbekistan’s state hydropower producer and developer, has announced a tender for the design and construction of the 6 MW Rabat, 8 MW Chappasuy and 10 MW Tamshush small hydropower plants on the Aksu River in the Kashkadarya Region.

Construction of these three plants is part of Uzbekistan’s Sustainable Hydropower Project, which is part-financed by the Asian Development Bank.

“We are pleased to announce a tender for the design and construction of three new hydropower plants on the Aksu River,” said a spokesperson for the Ministry of Energy. “These new plants will make a significant contribution to our goal of increasing our power generation capacity. They will also reduce our carbon emissions and grow our clean energy sources. We would also like to thank the Asian Development Bank for its support on this project.”

According to a press release, the wider context to the tender is Uzbekistan’s national energy strategy, which aims to meet increasing demands for energy and to generate a quarter of all electricity from renewable sources by 2030. The strategy will see the deployment up to 30 GW of additional power capacity by 2030, including 3.8 GW of hydro energy, 5 GW of solar energy and up to 3 GW of wind energy.

In addition to the total 24 MW of capacity from these three plants, the project will include a transmission line (35-110 kV and 22 km in length) and mini hydro units with aggregate capacity of 1 MW.

In October 2019, ADB approved $60m in financing for the construction of hydropower plants, with a total generation capacity of 25 MW, in Uzbekistan. The total cost of the project is $75.3m, and completion is expected by the end of 2023.

International competitive bidding will be conducted in accordance with ADB’s “One-Stage, Two-Envelope” protocol.

JSC Uzbekhydroenergo is a state enterprise established in 2017 and responsible for the operation of hydropower plants in Uzbekistan. The company operates 37 plants with an installed capacity of 1,853 MW.