The Republic of Uzbekistan has considered further tasks of energy reform
On October 26, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev hosted a presentation of measures to effectively organize the activities of the energy market regulator.
The energy sector of the Republic of Uzbekistan is being consistently reformed. At the first stage, the industry management system was changed. In recent years, 22 power plants have been commissioned, including in those regions where there was no generation before. For the first time, private capital is being attracted to electricity production.
Currently, the country's electricity production has reached 85 billion kWh. Another 20GWt of capacity are planned to be launched in the coming years. It plans to create 9 GWt of generating capacity through $7 billion in private investment.
To meet the growing needs of a dynamically developing economy and population, it is necessary to increase the volume of electricity production to at least 120 billion kWh. It is estimated that investment in the amount of $52 billion will be required to commission new capacities and completely modernize networks.
Such large-scale investment cannot be made without the participation of the private sector. To increase the attractiveness of the industry for private investors, as international experience shows, it is first of all necessary to create an energy market with an open competitive environment.
These goals are defined in the Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On measures to carry out the next stage of reform in the energy sector” dated September 28 of this year.
According to the document, by 2026 it is planned to introduce a free wholesale market, which will be formed on the basis of demand and supply of electricity. At the same time, it is necessary to formulate a regulatory framework, create a market infrastructure, digitalize the power system down to the grassroots level, and introduce an intelligent real-time control system (SCADA) that eliminates the human factor.
In many countries, these reforms took an average of 15 years. In the Republic of Uzbekistan, it is planned to carry out this process in three stages and complete it by 2030.
In accordance with the decree, the Agency for Development and Regulation of the Energy Market was created, which is entrusted with the functions of an energy regulator.
At the presentation, Energy Minister Zh. Mirzamakhmudov reported on the timing of the implementation of the measures provided for by the decree and the planned work in the field.
The head of state gave specific instructions to responsible persons on developing the concept of power supply for the republic. It is specifically stated that the main condition for the transition to a free energy market is the creation in the country of sufficient generating capacity to fully satisfy the demand for electricity.
The task has also been set to create a common electricity trading platform, test it and launch it by the end of 2024.
The President emphasized that in the process of liberalizing the energy market, it is necessary to strictly comply with the requirement to sell electricity to the population at a single price in all regions of the republic until 2035, as well as the principle of social protection when setting tariffs.
It was noted that for the effective operation of the new system, it is necessary to pay special attention to three components - personnel training, ensuring the relationship of the industry with science and digitalization. It was instructed to organize this comprehensive work both in the center and in the regions.
In this regard, the Agency will be staffed with highly qualified specialists and foreign consultants. Employees will be sent for advanced training to Spain, China, Turkey and Germany. Based on foreign experience, training courses for engineers, dispatchers, SCADA system operators and other specialists will be organized.
Industry leaders are faced with a number of tasks on the issues discussed at the presentation.