In the early morning, the wind woke up first along the ridge line in the Brungur district of Samarkand state. At an altitude of over a thousand meters, the wind turbine blades, which are tens of meters long, are slowly lifted and stably docked with the wheel hub in the mountain wind. A few months ago, this was a steep and winding gravel mountain road, but now 77 parking spots are erecting steel forests one by one. The villages and towns below the mountain are waiting for electricity, while the wind on the mountain waits for no one.

Samarkand on the Wind

On October 26th, the Ministry of Energy of Uzbekistan announced that Universal Energy is building a 500 MW wind farm in the Brungur District of Samarkand Oblast. The project has a total investment of 500 million US dollars and is funded entirely by foreign direct investment. The plan is to achieve full load operation by 2027. Energy Minister Hojaiev has gone to the construction site to inspect the progress of construction and installation, as well as the preparation work for on-time production. The first phase of the project is planned to be put into operation by the end of this year.

In May 2023, Universal Energy signed a preliminary investment agreement for the construction of the wind farm, marking the beginning of cooperation from paper to the summit. The project consists of two 250 MW wind power plants under its umbrella, making it the largest mountain wind power project in the local area and the first new energy project priced in RMB in the country.

A green ledger

According to the design capacity calculation, after the wind farm is fully operational, it can generate over 1.75 billion kilowatt hours of electricity annually, equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of about 730000 households; Approximately 467 million cubic meters of natural gas can be saved annually, reducing harmful substance emissions by over 1 million tons.

This account carries more weight in the context of Uzbekistan. The country's power structure has long been dominated by natural gas power generation, and there is often a shortage of supply and demand during the winter heating peak. The renovation of the old power grid is lagging behind. In recent years, with a number of large-scale wind power projects such as Zeravshan, Bashi, and Zankeldi being connected to the grid, the proportion of green power has gradually increased. The Ukrainian side has clearly stated that by 2030, the proportion of renewable energy generation will increase to 54%, and the added power generation capacity is considerable. This 500 megawatt wind farm is a solid brick and stone on the road to this goal.

More than one wind farm

More noteworthy is the pricing method. From project financing, equipment procurement to electricity pricing, the entire process can be settled in RMB closed-loop settlement, accompanied by a 25 year power purchase agreement. For Chinese companies going global, this means they no longer have to bear the risk of significant exchange rate fluctuations eroding profits alone; For the internationalization of the RMB, green energy has become a real and traceable business scenario.keywords:New energy information network

From wind power and energy storage in Kazakhstan to open tender projects in Azerbaijan, Universal Energy's layout in Central Asia and its surrounding areas has been interconnected. The Uzbekistan Ministry of Energy stated that the project will expand the country's renewable energy installed capacity and improve the reliability of power supply. And on the mountaintop of Brencourt, the wind continued to blow.Editor/Yang Meiling