The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has announced that it is helping to decarbonize fertilizer production and power generation in Uzbekistan by financing a pilot renewable hydrogen facility.
The EBRD is offering a financial package of US$65 million (EUR 58 million) to ACWA Power UKS Green H2 for the development, design, construction, and operation of the project comprising a 20 MW electrolyzer and a greenfield 52 MW wind power plant.
ACWA Power UKS Green H2 is a special purpose company (SPC) jointly owned by Saudi-listed ACWA Power Company (ACWA Power), the world’s largest private water desalination company and a first mover into green hydrogen, and Uzkimyosanoat (UKS), a holding company of state-owned chemical enterprises in Uzbekistan.
Replace grey hydrogen
Supported by the Japan-EBRD Cooperation fund the project will help replace grey hydrogen, produced from natural gas and widely used in the production of ammonia fertilizer in Uzbekistan, with renewable hydrogen.
The latter is recognized as a key alternative for decarbonizing the fertilizer production sector.
Once operational, the facility is expected to produce up to 3,000 tonnes of renewable hydrogen annually and to reduce annual carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by around 22,000 tonnes.
EBRD is proud to finance this landmark renewable hydrogen facility in Uzbekistan with our long-standing partner ACWA Power and their partner Uzkimyosanoat. This is the first of its kind across Central Asia, a region with some of the most carbon-intensive and hard-to-abate industries, said Nandita Parshad, EBRD Managing Director for the Sustainable Infrastructure Group, EBRD.
Comprehensive finance package
The package consists of a US$55 million (EUR49 million) senior loan provided by the EBRD as well as concessional finance of up to US$10 million ( EUR 9 million) from Canada under the Special Fund for the High Impact Partnership on Climate Action (HIPCA).
HIPCA is supported by Austria, Canada, Finland, the Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, the Taiwan ICDF, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The EBRD is also planning to provide an equity bridge loan of up to US$5.5 million (EUR 4.9 million) for the project.
Uzbekistan has been the leading recipient of EBRD funding in Central Asia for four years in a row.
To date, the Bank has invested around EUR 5.0 billion in 164 projects across the country, with most of those funds supporting private entrepreneurship.
The plant will be the second renewable hydrogen production project financed by the EBRD following the Bank’s support for a renewable hydrogen facility in Egypt in 2022.
