Further tasks of energy reform are considered

On October 26, under President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, a presentation of measures for the effective organization of the activities of the energy market regulator took place.

The energy sector of our country is being consistently reformed. At the first stage, the management system of the industry was changed. In recent years, 22 power plants have been commissioned, including in those regions where there was no generation before. For the first time, private capital is being attracted to electricity production.

Currently, the country's energy capacity has reached 85 billion kilowatt-hours. Another 20 gigawatts of capacity is planned to be launched in the coming years. It is planned to create 9 gigawatts of generating capacity at the expense of $ 7 billion of private investment.

To meet the growing needs of a dynamically developing economy and population, it is necessary to increase the volume of electricity production to at least 120 billion kilowatt-hours. It is estimated that investments in the amount of $52 billion will be required for the commissioning of new capacities and the complete modernization of networks.

Such large-scale investments cannot be formed without the participation of the private sector. And to increase the attractiveness of the industry for private investors, as international experience shows, first of all it is necessary to create an energy market with an open competitive environment.

These goals are defined in the Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On measures for the next stage of reforming the energy sector" dated September 28 of this year.

According to the document, by 2026 it is planned to introduce a free wholesale market, which will be formed on the basis of demand and supply of electricity. At the same time, it is necessary to form a regulatory framework, create a market infrastructure, digitalize the energy system down to the grassroots level, introduce an intelligent real-time management system (SCADA) that excludes the human factor.

In many countries, these reforms took an average of 15 years. In our country, it is planned to carry out this process in three stages and complete it by 2030.

In accordance with the decree, the Agency for the Development and Regulation of the Energy Market was established, which is entrusted with the functions of an energy regulator.

At the presentation , the Minister of Energy Zh.Mirzamakhmudov reported on the timing of the implementation of the measures provided for by the decree and the planned work in the field.

The Head of State gave the responsible persons specific instructions on the development of the concept of electricity supply of the republic. At the same time, it is emphasized that the main condition for the transition to a free energy market is the creation of sufficient generating capacities in the country to fully meet the demand for electricity.

The task has also been set to create a single electricity trading platform, test and launch it by the end of 2024.

The President stressed that in the process of liberalizing the energy market, it is necessary to strictly comply with the requirement to sell electricity to the population at a single price in all regions of the republic until 2035, as well as the principle of social protection when setting tariffs.

It was noted that for the effective operation of the new system, it is necessary to pay special attention to three components – training, ensuring the interconnection of the industry with science and digitalization. It was instructed to organize this complex work both in the center and in the regions.

In this regard, the Agency will be staffed with highly qualified specialists and foreign consultants. Employees will be sent to Spain, China, Turkey and Germany for advanced training. Based on foreign experience, training courses for engineers, dispatchers, SCADA system operators and other specialists will be organized.

A number of tasks have been set before the industry leaders on the issues discussed at the presentation.