DUSHANBE, Tajikistan, December 10. Tajikistan
and Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power held discussions in Riyadh on scaling
up cooperation in renewable energy, with a focus on advancing solar
and wind power projects in Tajikistan, Trend reports via the Tajik Ministry of
Finance.
The talks took place on the sidelines of the Conference on
Financial Development during a meeting between Tajikistan’s
Minister of Finance Fayziddin Qahhorzoda and ACWA Power CEO Marco
Accelli. The sides reviewed current directions of collaboration and
outlined plans to accelerate work between Tajikistan’s sectoral
ministries and the Saudi energy company.
Qahhorzoda emphasized the importance of expanding investment in
clean energy as Tajikistan increases its focus on hydropower
diversification and long-term energy security. The parties agreed
to deepen cooperation on project development, feasibility studies,
and future investment opportunities.
ACWA Power, one of the world’s largest developers of renewable
energy infrastructure, operates in 14 countries with a project
portfolio exceeding $100 billion. The company specializes in
large-scale solar and wind generation, as well as energy storage
systems - areas Tajikistan aims to strengthen as part of its
national strategy to boost renewable capacity.
Further technical consultations between Tajik and Saudi
institutions are expected to follow to advance concrete project
proposals.
Tajikistan's current electricity generation is overwhelmingly
dominated by hydropower, accounting for over 90% of total
electricity generation. While this provides clean energy, the
dependence leads to annual winter energy shortages (the "energy
limit") when water levels are low, necessitating urgent
diversification.
Tajikistan has set an ambitious goal to diversify its generation
sources, specifically aiming for 10% of generating capacity to come
from non-hydropower renewable energy by 2030. To achieve this, the
country has announced a target of generating 3,000 MW of
electricity from solar and wind power plants by 2030. This massive
push for non-hydro renewables requires attracting major
international developers like ACWA Power, which has committed to
projects in neighboring Uzbekistan totaling over 2.5 GW in recent
years.
As of late 2024, solar production in Tajikistan remained
minimal, with small pilot projects like the 220-kilowatt Murghab
solar power plant being the largest operational facilities, while
no substantial wind energy generation facilities have yet been
operationalized. This indicates the cooperation with ACWA Power is
aimed at creating large-scale, utility-level capacity rather than
incremental additions.
