Wind power in Uzbekistan: 520,000 megawatts og wind energy potential

The German GEO-NET and Intec-GOPA have evaluated the predictive potential of Uzbekistan in the field of wind energy electricity in more than 520,000 megawatts of installed capacity on 17,000 square kilometers with a production of 1.07 trillion kilowatt/ hours of electricity annually, the message of the Uzbekenergo State Joint Stock Company (SJC) said.

 

Earlier it was reported that in summer 2014, the German companies began a study of the wind energy potential of Uzbekistan within the framework of the contact signed with the Uzbekenergo.

The contract envisaged the study of Uzbekistan’s wind potential in six regions to find out the opportunities for industrial production of electricity with average annual wind gust strength of 100 meters per second. German experts have worked out the atlas of winds by using 3D modeling.

 

Navoi province and Karakalpakstan have been named as the pilot promising regions for installing wind farms. Bukhara and Samarkand provinces can also be considered for these purposes in the future.

GEO-NET and Intec-GOPA are expected to work out the feasibility study of the project for creating wind turbines fleet in Uzbekistan.

Furthermore, the message said that the specific investments in the construction of a wind farm with the capacity of 1 megawatt will be slightly more than $1 million which is comparable with investments in the construction of thermal power plants.

Uzbekistan in 2013 adopted a program for the development of alternative energy sources.

It is planned as part of the program to build in Samarkand the first solar power plant, which is to have a design capacity of 100 megawatts with the generation of over 150 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year.

The initial cost of the project is $310 million.

At present, 97 percent account for oil and gas, 2.3 percent – coal, 0.7 percent – hydro-power engineering in the structure of Uzbekistan’s primary fuel-energy resources. Some 10 thermal power plants (TPP), included in Uzbekenergo, generate the main share of electricity – up to 90 percent.

The electricity consumption will double up to 105 billion kilowatt / hours per year in Uzbekistan by 2030 (compared to 52 billion kilowatt hours now), according to the Uzbek Economy Ministry’s estimation.