Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev arrived in Surkhandarya region on June 1 and visited the construction site of a solar photovoltaic station in Sherabad district.

To meet the growing needs of the population and the economy in electricity, a number of energy facilities are being built in our country. In particular, much attention is paid to the use of solar energy, which plays an important role in the current conditions of limited traditional energy resources.

So, this year, Masdar of the United Arab Emirates and Total Eren of France in Navoi and Samarkand regions will put into operation photovoltaic stations with a capacity of 100 megawatts each.

At the same time, a tender was announced for the construction of a solar photovoltaic station in Sherabad district. The Asian Development Bank provided technical and financial advice for the tender.

More than 50 companies have expressed their interest in implementing the project. After a two-stage competition, Masdar won with the lowest tariff.

As part of the project, the company will build a solar photovoltaic station with a capacity of 457 MW in Sherabad district. A new 220 kW substation and a 52-kilometer transmission line will also be erected to connect to the Surkhon substation.

A plot of 601 hectares has been selected for the station. Masdar will attract US$260 million in direct investment. The station will have an annual production capacity of 1.04 billion kWh.

The implementation of the project will save 340 million cubic meters of natural gas per year, and 300,000 households will be supplied with electricity.

A thousand people will be involved in the construction of the photovoltaic plant, and 120 specialists in operation. The launch of this large facility is slated for August 2023.

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev noted at the ceremony the work carried out in our country to build an energy efficient and environmentally friendly economy.

- The emergence of an opportunity to purchase electricity at a cost of 1.8 cents per kilowatt-hour is a very great success for the economy of our republic and an important factor in ensuring the well-being of the population. In general, the construction of this station, the energy it generates and the new infrastructure will give a powerful impetus to the comprehensive development of the region, the head of state said.

Then the President laid a capsule in honor of the construction of a photovoltaic plant.

The ceremony was also attended by representatives of the older generation, vice-president of the Asian Development Bank Ashok Lavasa and the Minister of Energy and Infrastructure of the UAE Suheil al-Mazrui participated via videoconferencing.

This project is part of the program for the construction of solar photovoltaic plants with a total capacity of 1 GW, implemented by the government of Uzbekistan with the support of the Asian Development Bank.

It is planned to build solar stations with a capacity of 200 megawatts in the Samarkand and Jizzakh regions, wind farms for 100 megawatts in the Beruniy and Karauzyak districts of Karakalpakstan, as well as 3 wind farms with a total capacity of 1.5 thousand megawatts in Bukhara and Navoi.

Uzbekistan has set a goal to bring the capacity of solar power plants up to 5 thousand, wind power plants - up to 3 thousand, hydroelectric power plants - up to 4 thousand megawatts by 2030.