POWER May 2021 - 11

GLOBAL MONITOR
Emirati companies will also invest in Uzbekistan. "
Masdar in 2020 entered into
bilateral agreements with Uzbekistan
officials to develop, build, and operate
a 500-MW wind farm project, Masdar's
second utility-scale clean energy project
in the country. The project, expected to
begin commercial operation by yearend
2024, is located in the Zarafshan
district of the Navoi region. An expansion
to as much as 1.5 GW will support
Uzbekistan's goal of adding up to 3 GW
of wind energy and meeting 25% of its
electricity needs from renewable sources
by 2030. Masdar signed a power purchase
agreement (PPA) and investment
agreement for the wind farm with the
Ministry of Investments and Foreign
Trade of Uzbekistan, and Joint Stock
Co. (JSC) National Electric Grids of
Uzbekistan, in June of last year.
EDF Closing UK Coal-Fired Plant.
EDF in late March confirmed it will close
the entire 2-GW West Burton A coal-fired
power plant by September 2022, two
years ahead of the UK's national coal
phase-out deadline. The plant in Nottinghamshire,
England, entered commercial
operation in 1966. EDF said just two of
the plant's four 500-MW units will operate
over the next several months " to
meet capacity market commitments. "
The West Burton plant is the last coalfired
facility in France-based EDF's portfolio.
The UK government has mandated
that all coal-fired power generation end
in the country no later than 2024. The
UK has a target of net-zero emissions
from the power sector by 2050. Renewable
energy resources produced more
electricity in the UK than fossil fuels last
year for the first time. Coal supplied just
2% of the UK's electricity in 2020, down
from 23% in 2015. The closure of West
Burton A will leave just one remaining
commercial coal-fired plant in the UK by
year-end 2022; the distinction will belong
to Uniper's Ratcliffe-on-Soar facility, also
based in Nottinghamshire.
Mongolia Building Country's First
Solar-Plus-Storage Facility. A consortium
led by Japanese engineering company
JGC Holdings has been awarded
a government contract to build Mongolia's
first utility-scale solar-plus-storage
power plant. The 5-MW facility is being
developed in partnership with Mongolian
engineering and construction firm MCS
International LLC, and Japanese ceramics
company and network attached
storage (NAS) provider NGK Insulators
Ltd. NGK will provide its large-scale
sodium-sulfur-based battery systems for
May 2021 | POWER
the project. " NGK believes that the order
for this project was won as a result
of strong evaluations of NAS batteries'
ability to offer a large capacity and long
discharge time, along with NGK's extensive
delivery and long-term operational
track records, " the company said in a
statement. The plant, located in Uliastai
in Mongolia's Zavkhan Province, is expected
to enter commercial operation
in early 2022. The Asian Development
Bank (ADB) and the Joint Crediting
Mechanism, which was established by
the Japanese Ministry of Environment at
the ADB, is financing the project, which
is part of Mongolia's Upscaling Renewable
Energy Sector Project. That effort is
supporting deployment of 40.5 MW of
solar and wind capacity in the country's
western and Altai-Uliastai regions.
ACWA Power Building New Combined
Cycle Plant. ACWA Power and
Uzbekistan's Ministry of Energy in March
announced agreement on a 25-year PPA,
along with an investment of $1.2 billion,
to develop, build, and operate a 1.5-GW
combined cycle gas-fired power plant
in Shirin City, in Uzbekistan's Syrdarya
region. JSC National Electric Grids of
Uzbekistan will be the sole off-taker.
The groups announced that $747 million
of financing will come from 18-year
loan agreements with the International
Development Bank and other groups,
including the European Bank for Reconstruction
and Development (EBRD),
the International Development Fund
of
the Organization
of Petroleum
Exporting Countries, the German Investment
Corp., Standard Chartered
Bank, Natixis, Societe Generale, and
the Bank of China. ACWA Power said
it also signed an Implementation Agreement,
worth as much as $1.1 billion, to
build wind farms in Uzbekistan with generation
capacities up to 1 GW. A memorandum
of understanding (MOU) also
was signed for development of a training
center to support technical skills for
Uzbek students and professionals. The
combined cycle plant is part of Uzbekistan's
plan to attract foreign investment
in key sectors of the country's economy,
and to support its energy diversification
strategy. ACWA Power in a statement
said it will lead construction, operation,
and maintenance of the plant.
Serbia Signs Financing Deal for
Renewable Energy. Serbian officials in
March signed an MOU with the EBRD
to provide a framework for cooperation,
with a major focus on both renewable
and thermal energy projects, and also
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POWER May 2021

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