The Government of Uzbekistan has announced its power sector masterplan to 2030, committing to clean energy for the country. Mott MacDonald was the lead consultant and technical advisor for delivery of the masterplan under the Asian Development Bank’s technical assistance program.
The masterplan aimed to identify ways to find higher value from Uzbekistan’s indigenous gas resources and to diversify its generation mix. Mott MacDonald delivered a least-cost generation and transmission plan that brought significant cost reductions.
Using data analysis and state-of-the-art optimisation, the consultancy identified large and virtually untapped renewable energy resources in the country, capable of bringing reliable, low cost power. Crucially, the modelling identified storage technologies to augment and mitigate the renewable generation candidates selected in the analysis, and to maintain system stability.
Uzbekistan requires significant infrastructure investment to meet its energy demands. The country’s available power is currently 12GW. With plans for decommissioning of a further 6.7GW of obsolete power units in the next five years, there is a significant need to build new flexible power units with a total capacity of more than 26GW. To ensure a stable supply of electricity, it will also be necessary to construct 2700km of high-voltage power transmission lines together with the construction of 9 new substations.
Paul Tuson, Mott MacDonald’s project principal said: “We are pleased that our least cost generation and transmission planning concluded high levels of variable renewable energy (VRE). It is clear that alternative, clean power will play an important role in the future of energy for Uzbekistan.”
The Government’s Ministry of Energy will use the masterplan to optimise future procurement of generation and transmission assets in the country.
