Bash Wind Farm is a greenfield Independent Power Project (IPP) located in Gijduvan district of Bukhara region in Uzbekistan.

The 500MW project is being developed by Saudi Arabia-headquartered ACWA Power through a project company FE ACWA Power Bash Wind.

The development of the onshore wind farm is aligned with the Government of Uzbekistan’s plan to increase the electricity production in the country from 12.9GW in 2019 to 29.3GW by 2030.

ACWA Power has already entered into a 25-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with National Electric Grid of Uzbekistan (NEGU). NEGU will be the sole off-taker of the power generated by Bash Wind Farm.

Project Gallery

The project received full notice to proceed in October 2022. It is expected to begin commercial operations in December 2024.

Once operational, the wind farm will generate more than 1,650GWh of electricity annually and help in reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 930,000 tonnes per year.

Bash Wind Power Project Location

The Bash Wind Power Project in Uzbekistan will be located to the east and northeast of Lake Ayakagitma reservoir in Gijduvan district of Bukhara region.

The boundary of the site will be approximately 500m east of Lake Ayakagitma at its closest point. The site is situated approximately 30km west of Kokcha.

The land was allocated by the Ministry of Energy. Overall, the project was allocated an area of 285.1 hectares (ha), however, the wind farm footprint is expected to encompass around 178ha area.

Bash Wind Power Project Details

The wind farm will consist of 79 wind turbine generators (WTGs) with a production capacity of 6.5MW each.

Previously, the project design included 111 WTGs. However, the count was reduced by 32 units during the design review to reduce environmental and social impacts.

The wind turbines will have a hub height of 100m and a rotor diameter of 171m. They will be capable of adapting different speeds, pitches and advanced control strategies.

The main components and facilities of the wind farm will include turbine blades, generator, generator rotor, generator stator, nacelle, brake system, yaw system, converter system, tower, and transformer, along with other ancillary facilities.

An internal access road network between turbines will be built to enable easy access to project components within the site.

The project’s infrastructure will also include a 33/500kV sub-station which will be developed at the centre of the project with an approximate area of 204,860m2.

Electrical connection facilities consisting of a 500kV switchyard and the substation will connect the project to the single circuit 500kV Overhead Transmission Line (OHTL).

Power Transmission

The 162km long single circuit 50kV OHTL will stretch from the project site to the existing Karakul substation, which is situated south of the Bash Wind Farm site.

The OHTL will be developed as part of the project.

The power generated by Bash Wind will be exported to the National Electric Grid Uzbekistan (NEGU) via the project’s electrical interconnection facilities/500kV Air Insulated Substation (AIS).

Bash’s pooling switch substation will be operated by FE ACWA Power Bash Wind LLC and FE ACWA Power Dzhankeldy Wind.

The associated facilities of the OHTL will include a 120km 500kV single circuit OHTL from Dzhankeldy to Sarymay, including the expansion of the existing 500kV Sarymay substation; and 500kV Loop-In-Loop-Out (LILO) to Navoi-Murantau, up to 2*5km connecting to the 500kV single circuit 108km OHTL to Murantau 500kV substation and 500kV single circuit 80km OHTL to Navoi 500kV TPP switchyard.

It will also involve the expansion of the existing Qurako’I 500kV substation.

Once operations commence, the OHTL will be transferred to NEGU.

Financing

The development of the Bash Wind IPP is expected to cost $690m.

The project has received funding commitments from different financial institutions.

In December 2022, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) arranged a syndicated loan of $277m for the project. It will consist of an A loan of $150m on the EBRD’s own account and a B loan of $127m syndicated to commercial lenders.

In April 2023, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and ACWA Power signed a deal for $174m worth of loans to develop the Bash wind project and Dzhankeldy wind power plant also located in Uzbekistan.

This includes a $40.5m loan for Bash project. ADB will also administer $40.5m for the project from the Leading Asia's Private Infrastructure Fund (LEAP), administered by ADB.

The OPEC Fund for International Development also signed a $20m loan agreement for the wind power project.

Contractors of Bash Wind Power Project

The Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract of the Bash Wind project was awarded to China Energy International Group (CEEC), while First National Operation and Maintenance was selected as the operations and maintenance (O&M) company.

In June 2023, renewable energy company Envision Energy announced that it will supply the turbines for the wind project. The turbines will be based on Envision ‘EN 171’ specification.

5 Capitals Environmental and Management Consulting (5 Capitals) acted as the lead E&S Consultant undertaking the independent Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) processes.

The pre-feasibility study for 500kV overhead transmission line of the wind project was prepared by Juru Energy.

Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) prepared the Environmental and Social Review Summary (ESRS).