Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Energy has issued a global request for qualification for the Guzar solar project with a capacity of 300 MW under the public-private partnership (PPP) model.

The last date to submit bids is March 30, 2022.

The project is a part of Uzbekistan’s 1 GW Solar Program. The program has been developed with the support of the Asian Development Bank. It has set a  target to develop 8 GW of large-scale renewable energy projects by 2030.

To be eligible for the competitive bidding process, bidders should have a global portfolio of grid-connected solar projects with a minimum capacity of 250 MW. One or more projects should have a minimum capacity of 100 MW. All projects should have a minimum capacity of 10 MW. The projects must be commissioned after January 1, 2016, and operational for at least 12 months from their respective commercial operation date.

Bidders should have a net worth of a minimum of $70 million in the last three financial years. Their net worth to total asset ratio should be at least 15%.

The successful bidder should utilize crystalline or thin-film solar modules with a minimum efficiency of 18% and 16%, respectively. The modules should have a ten-year warranty period, and their power output should not be less than 80% at the end of 25 years. The successful bidder should have used similar modules in three different projects in the past two years.

The ministry will sign a 25-year power purchase agreement with the successful bidder.

Besides the project’s development, the successful bidder will be responsible for developing a 220 kV high-voltage dual circuit transmission line of around 1.5 km for power supply from the new photovoltaic (PV) station to the Guzar substation. The bidder should also set up a high-voltage PV station with the step-up transformers to 220 kV.

In May 2021, Uzbekistan announced the auction results for the 200 MW solar project in the Sherabad district of the Surkhandarya region. A total of 54 companies had expressed their interest in implementing the project. Out of these, five qualified participants submitted their proposals, of which four participated in the financial bids. Masdar won the bid to develop 220 MW of solar projects.

Mercom had earlier reported that Uzbekistan announced tenders for solar projects with a cumulative capacity of 1.4 GW.