Total Eren has commissioned a 131MWp solar project in Uzbekistan, the independent power producer’s first to exclusively use bifacial modules.
The Tutly project, which is located in the Samarkand region of Uzbekistan, has been commissioned nearly four years after it was first launched when Total Eren signed a framework agreement with state-owned utility National Electric Networks of Uzbekistan which will procure power generated under a 25-year power purchase agreement.
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The European Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Proparco financed the project, which reached financial close in August 2021.
Total Eren turned to Metka EGN for turnkey engineering, procurement and construction services for the project.
Tutly is expected to generate around 270GWh of electricity each year, aided by its exclusive use of bifacial panels – the first time Total Eren has completed a project solely using the technology.
Fabienne Demol, executive vice president and head of business development at Total Eren, said the business was now “eager to build more wind and solar projects in Uzbekistan and Central Asia”.
The project’s completion follows a flurry of activity in Uzbekistan driven itself by a number of tenders for solar PV capacity launched by the country’s government, which has aimed for 12GW of wind and solar capacity by 2030. This target was increased last summer after successive tenders produced lower than anticipated strike prices.
The country’s first utility-scale solar PV plant, a 100MW project developed by Masdar, was inaugurated in August last year and the country swiftly followed that up with two new tenders aimed at procuring 500MW and 400MW of capacity respectively.