Chinese enterprises led by China Gezhouba Group Overseas Investment Co, an overseas investment arm of China Energy Engineering Corp (CEEC), recently embarked on a journey to Central Asia, amid the strong push globally for a transition to green energy.
Earlier this month, a freight train carrying solar modules left Xi’an, in the Shaanxi province, to the construction sites of two upcoming photovoltaic power plants of 500-megawatt capacity each, in the Bukhara and Kashkadarya regions in Uzbekistan.
In the following months and years, more batches of such freight trains will set forth to these destinations to build the groundbreaking one-gigawatt energy projects.
“The investment and construction of renewable energy projects have played a leading role in transforming Uzbekistan’s energy structure and infrastructure,” said Jurabek Mirzamahmudov, minister of energy, Uzbekistan, during an event to celebrate the departure of the first freight train.This endeavour, part of a cooperation agreement after the China-Central Asia Summit in May, marks the first move into new energy investment in the Central Asian region, and one of the results of the Belt and Road Initiative.
The project is estimated to generate 2.4 billion kilowatt-hours of clean electricity and mitigate carbon emissions by about 2.4 million tonnes annually. It will help improve the local power infrastructure and upgrade its energy consumption, said Lin Xiaodan, president of the CEEC unit.
Beyond its green impact, the project is also set to spur socioeconomic development, as it is expected to generate around 1,600 local jobs and inject a projected US$140mil in tax revenue, Lin added during the ceremony.
Source : The Star