500 MW Connected to the Grid: German Investor Completes Uzbekistan's Namangan Solar Park
Central Asia Column “Steppe Ahead”
Uzbekistan’s Namangan solar park has been feeding electricity into the grid at its full capacity of 500 MW since September 15. This was reported by the Uzbek economic portal UzDaily, citing the Namangan regional administration. The plant, located in the Pap district, was built by the German company Hyper Partners GmbH. The total investment amounts to $350 million, and the park is expected to generate just under 1.1 billion kWh of electricity per year. With a capacity of 500 MW, the facility in the Fergana Valley is one of the largest solar parks in the country.
German Investor Signs 25-Year Power Purchase Agreement
Hyper Partners signed the investment agreement in January 2024, and the project was approved by presidential decree shortly thereafter, as reported by UzDaily at the time. To implement the project, the German company established the project company Next Solar Energy Group. The state-owned grid operator, National Electric Grids, purchases the electricity under a 25-year contract. The investor also built the transmission line itself.
President Shavkat Mirziyoyev personally gave the go-ahead for construction to begin in March 2024. The project was thus completed in about two and a half years, with the plant being connected to the grid in several phases. According to the Uzbek state newspaper Yangi Oʻzbekiston, the site will create 120 permanent jobs. The park is part of a larger project: In the Pap district, the Tepelen Group from the United Arab Emirates is also building a second 500-MW solar park with a budget of $350 million. On the Norin River, Uzbekhydroenergo is building a cascade of six hydroelectric power plants with a total capacity of 228 MW at a cost of $434 million; according to Yangi Oʻzbekiston, this is the country’s first hydroelectric facility equipped entirely with domestic technology. Together, the Namangan region is expected to reach a capacity of 2,141 MW and an annual production of 7.8 billion kWh. This exceeds regional demand by about 30%; the surplus is supplied to neighboring regions.
Renewables Meet Growing Electricity Demand
This expansion is meeting a market with rapidly rising demand. According to the Ministry of Energy, on July 14, Uzbekistan consumed 284 million kWh in a single day—a historic record. For the first time, the summer peak exceeded the winter maximum of 283 million kWh set in January. The drivers behind this trend are air conditioning, population growth, and new industrial facilities. At the height of summer, the ministry openly called on households to set their air conditioners to 24 to 26 degrees to relieve strain on the grid.
Renewables are growing even faster than consumption. According to the Uzbek news portal Daryo, Uzbekistan’s solar, wind, and hydroelectric power plants generated 5 billion kWh by early June, an increase of 28% compared to the same period last year. By the end of October 2025, the Ministry of Energy had counted twelve solar and five wind farms with a combined capacity of 4,682 MW; the share of green electricity stood at 23%. By May 2026, the government had already reported more than 5.5 GW of solar and wind capacity, accounting for 30% of total generation. The effect is also evident in the gas sector: According to the Ministry of Energy, green electricity saved the country approximately 2.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 2025 alone. This eases the burden on exports and ensures a stable supply to households during the winter.
Target of 50% by 2030: Grid and Storage as Bottlenecks
The government recently raised its expansion target. By 2030, renewables are to account for 50% of electricity generation; as recently as fall 2025, the official target was still 40%. The new target requires a jump from 30% to 50% in just four years, while total consumption continues to rise. Deputy Prime Minister Jamshid Khodjaev estimated direct investments in the energy sector at just under $35 billion in May at the Energy Week industry conference, according to the Tashkent-based news portal Kun.uz. According to the report, 9 GW of new power plant capacity has been added since the reforms began, bringing the total capacity to 25.8 GW. The goal is to “transform energy into one of Uzbekistan’s strongest pillars for industry, for investors, for the population, for regional cooperation, and for the green transition,” said Khodjayev.
It remains to be seen whether the grid and storage infrastructure can keep pace. Solar power is largely unavailable on winter evenings—precisely when the country relies on gas and electricity for heating. Summer peak demand, in turn, is met by a Soviet-era transmission grid that must first accommodate the new power plants. The government is therefore planning to build approximately 7,000 kilometers of new transmission lines by 2030. In Tashkent, a 150 MW battery storage facility is also being built in partnership with the Emirati investor AMEA Power at a cost of 86.1 million U.S. dollars.
This opens up a growing market for German suppliers of grid technology, storage systems, inverters, and maintenance services. Full operation in Namangan also serves as a benchmark: a 500 MW solar park in Uzbekistan can currently be brought online—from contract signing to full grid connection—in about two and a half years. This is a pace that, in the region, is otherwise only matched by investors from the Gulf.
Source: UzDaily, UzDaily, Yangi Oʻzbekiston, Yangi Oʻzbekiston, Kun.uz, Daryo (all EN)